Dragon Girl
by P2tbAnimeGirl
Summary: Bridget Hunter used to be normal, until she was kidnapped and experimented on. Now she's Dragon Girl, and her only hope of going back to being normal is to kill Spider-man. But does she want to be normal again? Has she shed her old life for one of crime?
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I in no way, shape, or form own any marvel related character. I only own my OC, nothing else.

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**Author's NOTE:** **I won't comment a lot on this story, only when I absolutely need to, but I should say now that this story strictly follows the Spectacular Spiderman (TV Series) Storyline. If that isn't your cup of tea, fine that's your opinion. If you're interested, Great! Please R&R and enjoy the story! **

**Also, ****I've been meaning to write this for a long time. I have to say Spectacular Spider-Man is one of my top faves to watch as far as Marvel goes. I grew up with the 90s Spider-Man show, which was great, but the new one is pretty engaging and original in the way they go about things. Too bad it got canceled… Anyway this is my first time submitting a Spidey fic. I know it's not much yet, but I hope to really make something out of it.**

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Prologue

Choices are everything. They are the proof of your freewill. They even define what you really are. After all, actions speak louder than words. And the outcomes of our choices, to some, are devastating.

Some go their entire life letting others make the choices, following the orders and decisions of another's mind. Others take their own path and make the choices for themselves. Some people are born followers, others are the born leaders. And then there is the group of followers who should have been the leaders of their own lives, but were forced to follow by a higher power.

Against one's will a lot can happen. Like being a caged bird, unable to stretch your own wings and test your own strengths. Choices that were never another's to make that affected the other directly.

_This_ was, and never has been, my choice though. The choices of others created what I am today. But, from now on, I'm opening my cage. It's my turn to stretch my wings, test my strengths, make my own choices, and find my own path.


	2. Captured

Chapter 01: Captured

Late. The one word in the English language that nearly everyone with a job finds to be the most irritating. To some, this word shows just how little time there actually is in the day. To others it's just the result of other factors jumping into their lives at inconvenient moments. But to me it's just another reason for me to hate Algebra, for it was the reason why I had missed the bus.

"_Do good in school, go to a good college, and get a good paying job."_ Mother constantly told me. And it has always been clear that that was what mother dearest wanted of me, to do better than she or my loser of a father had. I mean, I never did blame her for the financial issues we had ever since she and Dad got divorced. What I did blame her for though, was the constant pushing and sculpting of my life. She pushed me when I did badly on a test; always telling me to do better and that I wouldn't go anywhere if I didn't do well. She always made decisions for me too. All the life changing choices that should have been mine to make, they were always hers to decide.

Balancing work and school has never been easy for me, especially when so much of my future relied on the ability. I had to do well in school; so much of my time was dedicated to my studies. But because of the family's financial issues I had to work as a waitress every night at a restaurant in order to save up for college. So I basically had no social life, or life for that matter, outside of school and work.

So here I am, late for my shift and riding my old beaten up bike that was several inches too short into the city. My long spiky red hair that never behaves was whipping my face and briefly covering my light chocolate eyes as I rode.

"It could be worse," I whispered to myself, looking up at the cloudy sky. "It could be…" I had spoken too soon for right about then little droplets of water began to fall from the sky. It rained lightly for a few moments before it started to really come down. In the distance I could hear the roar of thunder. "…Rain." I sighed with aggravation. This just wasn't my day.

As I continued to ride I watched as others around me had the pleasure to duck into one of the many tall buildings for cover. I made a sharp turn into an alleyway where the back of the restaurant was. I usually didn't go this way, but I needed a place to leave my bike while I worked after all. I tossed the bike against the wall between the dumpster and the kitchen door, not really bothering to lock it up.

"Key…key…where did I put the key…?" I muttered to myself as I searched my pockets. I didn't carry a pocketbook so I usually kept my keys and wallet in my pockets. But my key ring carried several different types of keys and it took me a few moments to identify the right one. As I went to unlock the door, I noticed a strange sound.

_**Splish, splish, splish, splish. **_

The sound of wet footsteps walking down the alleyway. I stole a glance to my left, no one there. Then I looked to my right, no one there either. _'Strange…probably just my imagination'_ I thought to myself as I unlocked the door with a loud click. I turned the handle and pushed, but the door didn't open. '_Damn! Come on; don't tell me it's jammed again!_' I thought pissed off as I pushed harder against the door, only to have it budge a tiny bit. Losing patience and getting sick of the rain, I pounded on the door in hopes that one of the cooks would hear and open the door.

I paused for a moment, giving anyone who might have heard a chance to open the door for me. Standing there I noticed the sound again. The steady sound of approaching footsteps; they were louder than before. The last thing I noticed was the long shadow approaching me from behind before a sharp pain raced through my neck and I blacked out.

"…..her?...only a child!" A distant yet panicked voice spoke. I slowly opened my eyes and blinked a few times, trying to wake up. _'Where am I?'_ I thought, panicked as I remembered the footsteps, the shadow, and then being knocked out.

"She's nothing but a….need a working…..you owe me that much." A different voice said strictly, still too far away for me to hear entirely, but close enough for me to make out most of his words.

"F-fine….get it over with while she's still out of it." The first voice spoke again.

I don't like the sound of this. I tried to get up, but couldn't. As my eyes adjusted I realized that I was strapped to a table! A lab table! _'What?'_ I thought as I tried to struggle against my restraints. As my eyes continued to adjust I saw the figures of three men. The one closest to me, and the shortest of the tree, wore glasses, had a horrible hair cut, and in his hand…he had a needle with a silvery liquid in it! He was going to inject it into me!

Noticing that I was awake again, the man frowned a bit and muttered, "This will burn for awhile." Then he located the vein in my arm, cleaned it off, and then injected the silver liquid.

The effect of the liquid was instant. Slow warmth slipped into my arm. It was growing though, warmer and warmer. Then uncomfortable, then hot, hotter, and then blazing. It was as if someone had set fire to my insides. It felt like my arm was being dipped in acid and slowly burning away.

The blood in my arm was spreading and attacking me from the inside. It slowly spread up into my shoulders, throat, and then down into the rest of my body. It attacked my arms and legs the fastest though, then took its sweet time ripping apart my lungs, heart, and other vital organs. The parts of me that were keeping me alive were putting up a fight against the intruding liquid that was doing everything in its own power to destroy me. It was torture.

After the fires had run their course my entire being slowly turned to ice. I felt drained of energy, so much so that I didn't think I could move so much as my fingers or toes. I was so tired; my eyes felt heavy. Actually my whole body felt really heavy now.

It felt like the fires inside me burned for days on end. I don't really know how long it all actually lasted since the three men had left the room shortly after the injection. I thought about that for a brief moment; the effects of the liquid and my whole situation… did any of it mean I was dying? Was that liquid they injected into me actually killing me? I wondered how many victims there had been before me, and doubted that I would be the last.

Eventually, unable to stand it any longer, I gave into my exhaustion and fell, thankfully, into a dreamless sleep.


	3. Monster

Chapter 02: Monster

I woke up to a scream. More than likely it was my own, but I couldn't care less. The pain was back again, and worse than before. This was round 2 of my battle.

My body was trying to reject the pain it was facing, which resulted in me being sucked again and again into a blackness that cut out whole seconds and maybe even minutes of my agony. With a lot of effort, I tried to separate reality from the blackness.

Non-reality was black, obviously, and it didn't hurt. It took away the pain and gave me short breaks, which made the pain easier to deal with. Reality was blinding white and felt like my whole body was being submerged in acid or once again being set on fire on the inside. Reality was unnecessary torture and I wished that it would disappear.

The darkness would briefly take over, and then wash away to a new wave of torture, which was worse than the previous one. Inside of me, pieces of me were shattering, snapping, ripping, and breaking apart. I could feel it, something was seriously wrong. Wrong and unnatural, and my body didn't know how to cope with it. The silver liquid was wreaking havoc on my body once more.

Suddenly the blackness rushed over me again, more solidly than before. This time, instead of a relief, it was like a crushing weight. It felt like it was crushing my whole being. I panicked a bit this time, but found it too exhausting to push against it. I knew it would be so much easier to give in, to let the darkness take me whole and be done with me, but something kept telling me to fight. It kept telling me that I wasn't ready to die. Not yet…

I focused on keeping the darkness at bay; not completely lifting it from me, but also not allowing it to crush me. I concentrated on what little parts of my agony I could feel through the darkness. In this half reality and half non-reality state, I could feel the control of my body slowly starting to come back. The silver liquid had done its damage and the pain was fading! Slowly, very slowly, but still fading. The fire was burning itself out once more and that familiar icy feeling was starting to come back. Ice didn't hurt as much as the fire did. Ice stung, but it was bearable.

As time continued to tick by, I could begin to feel the ice start to thaw out. But I wish it hadn't. I could feel that something was wrong. My body…it was different…I didn't know how yet, but I knew something was wrong. What did they do to me?

* * *

I slowly opened my eyes and shocked myself with the sight of the ceiling. Everything, even though the room was pitch black, was so clear, sharp, and defined. I tried to move my fingers, slowly curling them into a fist. There was a sharp poke at my palms now, I slowly looked down at my hands only to be horrified at the sight. Sharp, long claws hung from my finger tips. And where my once clear Irish skin had been was a nasty foreign grey.

I panicked, heart racing, and struggled against the restraints that held me to the table. But this time I broke free, much too easily I would like to mention. The thick bands that had bound me to the table now hung loosely at its sides, snapped in half under the little strength and energy that I had.

I sat up right for a while as I examined my hands. The claws grew ever longer when I focused on them, and shrank away when I relaxed them. My skin was thicker and rougher than it had been before. My nails couldn't penetrate my own skin, but they could scratch up the metal table now. I attempted to stand up, but found that my feet too had the same claws sprouting out of my toes.

I screamed out a bit in frustration. This was unfair! What had they done to me and why? What did I do to deserve this! I was a monster! A freak! I could never go back to my normal life now. My yelling only stopped because it faded into sobs.

"Ah! So you survived." A male's voice suddenly said, startling me. "Looks like chances of survival for this procedure are one in five. I honestly thought that you would be one of those to fall instead of being the lucky survivor though. You just seemed weak." The man continued. On closer inspection with my new sharp eyesight I could make out what he looked like, and shuddered a bit. This man was the one who had knocked me out, I could tell by the shape his shadow took against the wall behind him. His skin was pale and his head was square shaped. He was short, dressed in a suit, and happened to be wearing brass knuckles.

Suddenly, feelings of pure rage surfaced inside of me. He was the reason why I was here. He was the one responsible for turning me into _this_. I looked like a freak of nature now because of him! And he said that there were others, four others besides me who had gone through the pain and they didn't survive it! Who did this guy think he was?

"You...," I muttered in between sobs, beginning to regain control of my emotions. "You…_You_ did this to me!" I shouted, pure fury ringing behind my words. I didn't even bother to notice or acknowledge that my hands were positioned so that my claws were as long and dangerous as possible. "_Why?_" I demanded.

"The Big Man needed new pawns," The man replied with an air of carelessness. "You just happened to be in the neighborhood."

I don't know what made me do it, possibly some newly awakened instinct or just a reaction to my anger, but I brought my hand up over my head, my hand still claw-like, and whipped it downward in a diagonal motion. It took my eyes only moments to register that five small and sharp projectiles were flying at the man now. I glanced at my hand to see new nails growing, taking the place of the ones that I had just shot at the man in front of me.

Unfortunately my claws only did damage to the walls, for the man must have seen the incoming danger and hit the ground quicker than I would've expected him to.

"Tell your boss that I'm no pawn of his." I snarled at the man on the ground.

"I'm afraid that the choice isn't yours to make, not unless you prefer to remain looking the way you do now." The man replied as he got to his feet. When he realized that he had my complete attention, he thought briefly about what he was going to say next. "Now, thanks to the Doc's breakthrough with a working Supervillian creating injection, we actually have a specimen that will be quite a challenge for Spider-man to get away from. Shocker, Sandman and Rhino did pose a challenge for the bug, but they didn't get the job done."

"Spider-man? What does he have to do with this?" I interrupted.

"The bug is a problem, a problem that we need to squash. That's where you come in, as the squasher that is. If you bring Spider-man back to us, preferably dead, we will turn you back to your old normal self." The man explained.

I thought about that for a minute. As a monster, I could never go back to my normal life. I wouldn't be accepted by others. Mom…what would she think of me now? That whole speech parents tell you that 'they'll love you no matter what', would that still apply now that I look like this? I mean, it's only my exterior that's changed; I'm still the same on the inside. What if I play my cards right? What if I say that I'll hunt down Spider-man, but instead go home? I'm sure that some other doctor or scientist can change me back. It's worth a try.

"It's a deal, as long as I have your word that you'll turn me back to normal as soon as I bring you his body." I replied.

"Then we have a deal. The name's Hammerhead, by the way. Now, before we send you off into battle, the Doc just needs to examine a few things." Hammerhead replied, signaling for someone behind him to show themselves. "Make it quick. The sooner she gets rid of the bug, the better." Hammerhead said to the man before leaving the room.

The man who entered the room I actually recognized as the one who had injected the silver liquid into me. He was a bit different though. He still had the same goofy looking square glasses, ugly haircut, white lab coat, ugly green sweater vest, and orange bowtie on. He now, however, had four mechanical arms attached to him; one of which carried a clipboard.

"Uh, so this should be quick and painless." The man said, as he flipped through his papers on the clipboard.

"Should?" I questioned.

"Oh, don't worry, it won't be anything like the injection was…that is if it was painful…I-I only assumed it would be since you woke up screaming quite a few times…" He replied.

"Worst I've _ever _been through." I replied, not bothering to hide my bitter sarcasm.

"Well…uh, sorry to hear that…" He said as one of his arms measured my hand with a measuring tape.

"So, Doc, what's with the arms?" I asked nervously.

"These? Uh..well they allow me to multitask, uh, and manipulate difficult objects, and um, maintain a safe distance." The Doc explained.

"Maintain a safe distance?" I questioned, not liking the way it sounded.

"Oh, uh not about you! No, you see I, um, I work in other fields here, and they prove to be rather useful there." He quickly muttered.

"So you created that stuff that turned me into…_this_?" I asked as I allowed his arms to measure my feet and claws. This man didn't seem nearly as confident as Hammerhead seemed. His body language and the way he stuttered a bit around his words when he spoke hinted that he was probably weaker than Hammerhead as well. Maybe I could get more information about my situation from this guy.

"Y-yes I did." He replied, suddenly finding a lot of interest in his shoes.

"So, then you should know if this is even reversible or not." I pressed on.

"About that…um," He hesitated a moment before continuing. "We'll talk about it, uh when you finish your end of the deal."

"I'm not doing anything until I get that answer." I replied, not liking his last answer. What was he hiding? And more importantly, did Hammerhead lie to me?

He let out a long sigh before answering me. "What's happened to you has changed you from the inside out. It's changed your organs into ones that will be able to perform in extreme conditions. It's changed your skin, another organ of yours, into an almost impenetrable armor. Your eyes, if my calculations are correct, have changed themselves so that they're more, well advanced and a bit more nocturnal in nature. Your sense of smell and hearing should also be sharper. There's just so much about you that has changed that I'm not sure I could come up with something to counter my original injection. There might be a few permanent changes, most of which would be very noticeable."

The only thing I could think to say at that moment was, "Oh…" I didn't say anything for a while after that; I really didn't see a reason to. My mind was busy thinking of what I should do next. If this condition of mine wasn't as curable as I thought it might be, then my best bet was to go home and explain _this_ whole thing to Mother as best I could.

"Finished." He said after jotting down some final notes on his clipboard.

"Great." I replied, walking past him and towards the door. But before I left, I turned around to ask him something. "Hey Doc, what's your name?"

"O-Otto Octavius, why?" He replied, adding in a question of his own.

"Just wanted to know what to call you." I replied shrugging my shoulders as I did. It wasn't a complete lie, but the truth was that I wanted to know what to tell the authorities later on.

"And your name?" He asked.

"Bridget." I replied. Deciding that there was nothing left for me to say, I left the room and him behind.


	4. Miscalculation

Chapter 03: Miscalculation

I sat there feeling more like a captive than the valuable hunter Hammerhead referred to me as. Not that I was fooled, I know that I am nothing to this man. I was only a pawn, something that could easily be disposed of if necessary.

The blind fold, which covered my sensitive and advanced eyes, was doing a half assed job. Not that I was complaining. It was annoying at most. It did not completely rob me of my sight, but it made it impossible for me to make out the words on street signs and buildings. I could feel when the car made a turn, but I would never be able to tell anyone how to get to the building I was kidnapped to.

"Now remember, that locket is a tracking device. Once you've done Spider-man in, push the little red button inside. We'll pick you up then." Hammerhead repeated for the second time since I got into the car.

"I know," I snapped back.

"Glad to hear it." A different voice responded, speaking for the first time. The voice was sort of scratchy, and sounded familiar. I didn't know where I knew that voice from, but I felt like I had heard it before. "This is where you get out. And remember that the sooner you finish off Spider-man, the sooner the good doctor starts working on a way to reverse you."

I heard a door open to my right. I ripped the blind fold off as I almost threw myself out of the car. I was eager to get away from my captors. I turned around fast enough to see a strict looking man in a suit sitting next to Hammerhead. Like Hammerhead, the man concealed his eyes behind sunglasses. He, unlike Hammerhead though, had short curly red hair and high cheekbones. He was also taller than Hammerhead. The man seemed really familiar, but I couldn't put a name to his face. Heck, I wasn't even a hundred percent sure that I had ever seen the guy before today.

I watched the car disappear as it rounded a corner. Once it was out of sight, I got to work on finding my way home. But as I passed a store window, I stopped dead and stared at my reflection. Even though it was some late hour of the night with my new advanced eyesight I could see pretty well in the dark. I looked a whole lot worse than I originally thought I did.

My skin, which was now a nasty, thick, grey instead of my original bright Irish white, had patches of scales! Dark grey scales! Noticeable patches of scales covered my right cheek, half of my left forearm, and on the left side of my neck. I guessed that there were more patches of scales up and down the rest of my body, but I decided that I would search myself later on in the comfort of my own home instead of in the middle of the street. The scales were snakeskin smooth, but tougher compared to the rest of my skin. My eyes, instead of the familiar light chocolate color that I was used to seeing, were a brilliant crimson color. The pupil was a mean looking slit, sort of like a cat's. My eyes looked eviler than I felt, no hit of my true feelings reflected in them. And then there was my hair, the only thing about my exterior that hadn't changed. My hair was the same long, wild, spiky mess that it had always been. But against my new skin and eyes, it looked a bit out of place. It made me look more demonic. My reflection reminded me of those Chinese dragons that overwhelm the streets of China town during the Chinese New Year. I looked like an ugly, defected Chinese Dragon.

I didn't want to deal with people finding me and freaking out about my looks, so I kept to the alleyways, running across streets when I was sure no one was looking. Finding my way back home took me a few hours, but I did eventually get back. Mom and I lived in on the second floor of a small, old house in Forest Hills, Queens. The landlord, who lived on the ground floor, was a slob and when he smoked cigarettes you could smell them along with alcohol and rotting food through the floorboards. Mom and I both agreed that we hated it here, but it was affordable and it was better than being homeless.

I quickly made my way to the back of the house where the stairs were. I didn't have my key with me, so I used the extra one that Mom and I kept under the doormat. It was probably the first place robbers looked for the key, but we decided that it was a spot that was too obvious that no one would bother to look there anyways.

My first instinct was that I must've had the wrong floor or house, but I knew better. Mom and I tried our best to keep this place as clean and organized as possible, but the place looked like a bomb had hit it. Beer cans littered the kitchen floor, the first sign that something was wrong. I knew for a fact that my Mother didn't drink, at all. She always said that she had zero tolerance for alcohol. So why was the kitchen floor covered with Bud light and Budweiser?

"Mom?" I called. I paused as I waited for someone to answer. I walked through the house, hoping she was actually home. I didn't need to search long, since I only had to pass the kitchen to see her passed on the couch surrounded by more empty beer cans in the living room. "Mom," I whispered as I gently shook her shoulder. "Mom…Mom are you Okay?"

"Uh…." She moaned as she slowly opened her eyes. "Who the hell are you?" She asked after a little while, but her words slurred and it sounded more like "Oh they ell arrr oou?"

"Mom, it's me, Bridget." I replied worried. I have never seen my Mother like this, it sort of scared me.

"Oou'rr not my doughter." She stated. "Briget haaaasn beeeeeen baak whome in daaas."

"Mom, it's me!" I insisted. "How much have you had to drink today?" I asked.

"A phew baatles….meebee then…" She replied. Deciding that I wouldn't be able to explain anything to her while she was like this, I left her there for a bit as I went back to the kitchen. I poured her a glass of water then walked down the hall to our bedrooms. I walked into mine and pulled the blanket off of my bed. From there I walked back into the living room, gave her the glass of water, helped move her onto her side, covered her with my blanket, then let her go back to sleep. I would just have to wait and see how she is later on before I explained the situation.

So I took a chair from the kitchen and sat down next to the couch. All I really had left to do was wait it out. I thought about some things while I waited. My mom's words about me being missing for days, I wondered just how many days I had been gone. How long had it taken her to get like this? I also thought about what I would do after she woke up. What would I say? How could I begin to explain this to her? And worst of all, what if she didn't accept me?

* * *

I must have fallen asleep a few hours after the little episode with my mom. But I was brutally woken up by an ear shattering scream, which made me jump out of the kitchen chair I was sleeping in.

"Who – _What_ the hell are _you_?" My mom shouted at me. She must've woken up, seen me there, not realized it was me, and then freaked out.

"Mom, it's me! I'm Bridget!" I said as I stood up, reaching for her. But she backed away in fear.

"You're not my daughter! How dare you even pretend to be my baby! I know what my Bridget looks like and you're not her, you freak!" She shouted back, obviously confused, hurt, upset, and angry.

"Mom, please, it's really me." I insisted, trying to get through to her. "I'm Bridget, I was kidnapped and tested on. I-" I tried to explain, but mom cut me off.

"STOP!" She shouted, silencing my words. "My Bridget disappeared three days ago. I don't believe your cock and bull story. Now get out of my house."

"Mom I-" I tried again.

"GO!" She shouted, voice rising.

"Please I just –"

"NOW! LEAVE! GET YOUR ASS OUT OF HERE!" She shouted, the last few words ringing in my ears.

With tears in my eyes, I walked toward the door. She backed further away as I walked by, which hurt even more. Once outside though I raced down the street. I didn't want her to call the cops on me. I didn't know where my feet where taking me, but I needed to sort everything out now.

Where do I go from here? What do I do? My own mother doesn't ever recognize me, she didn't even give me a chance to explain anything!

"_If you bring Spider-man back to us, preferably dead, we will turn you back to your old normal self." _Hammerhead's words whispered in the back of my head. That was my answer. To be normal again I needed to kill Spider-man. 'It's not personal," I told myself. 'I just don't have any other choice. It's either this life, looking freakish, living homeless, and being rejected by Mom, or the one that was ripped away from me. I want everything to go back to the way it was.'

And so, with my mind set, I began my journey back to the city. I knew what I was going to do, I was going to kill Spider-man.


	5. Encounter

Chapter 04: Encounter

I scaled the wall, my claws helping me to do so. I had been back in the city for quite a few hours now, testing my new strengths out. I was pushing myself to my limits just to see exactly what I was capable of.

I found that I am able to jump higher than I would have thought humanly possible (not that I looked or felt very human at the moment) and that allowed me to be able to hop across from building to building. It defiantly made getting around easier. I had found that my claws, though I could detach and shoot them at people and objects, could support my weight and I didn't always have to shed them if I didn't want to. If I closed my eyes and focused I could just make out what people were saying down on the streets thanks to my superhuman hearing.

I wanted to get a bit of practice in before I actually fought Spider-man. Heck, I wouldn't even dream of looking for the guy unless I was confident enough in myself. I mean, let's face it, I wasn't about to go rushing into a fight with an experienced fighter of crime without mastering my own abilities first.

The matter of actually finding him was easy enough, I already had that part planned out, I would just trip several stores alarm systems and hope that was enough to attract him. And then there was the matter of fighting him. Eye witnesses and newspapers made the guy sound almost invincible, I mean the guy took out Sandman, Rhino, Shocker, Electro, and the Vulture for crying out loud! So how was I going to succeed in something experienced villains had failed at? I was going to succeed because going back to my own life depended on killing him, that's why. All those other crooks didn't have the kind of life I had before, they didn't lose something like that either. I did, and I was going to fight to get it back. Or at least that's what I kept telling myself.

* * *

I waited patiently for the sun to set and for the moon to rise. And at around 11:30 or so, when some stores that weren't open 24/7 were starting to close, I made my move.

With my claws out and ready, I shot them in all directions; causing silent and actual loud alarms to go off, and panic and confusion in the streets as well as from the people inside the stores. I needed to make a scene to draw Spider-man out and I had done just that. I waited and when the police showed up I fought them, shooting my claws at them, but I made sure I didn't kill them. But it wasn't until something gripped the back of my hand that I stopped paying attention to the police and focused my attention on the attacker: a red and blue figure.

It was Spider-man.

"Whoa there scaley! What happened to your face?" Spider-man exclaimed as he got the first good look at my face when I turned to face him. Instead of wasting my breath talking to the guy, I took my left hand and punched him right in the jaw, or at least I would have if he hadn't let go of my arm and jumped back at the last possible second. It was like he had sensed the danger before I actually attempted the act.

"Hey! Hasn't anyone ever told you to keep your hands, or in your case _nails_, to yourself?" Spider-man asked mockingly.

"As a matter of fact," I replied as I took my now freed hand and prepared, "no one has!" I finished as I shot dagger sharp nails in his direction. But once more, as if he could see the threat before it happened, he shot a web at a nearby lamppost and swung himself to safety long before my claws got the chance to cause damage.

I prepared my left hand, ready to strike again, but Spider-man was faster than I and shot a string of webbing directly at my face; momentarily blinding me. I scrambled to rip the webbing from my face, but I still wasn't quick enough. I felt a hard kick to my ribs which knocked the wind out of me as well as sending me flying toward the wall of one of the many surrounding buildings.

Catching my balance as quickly as I could after the impact, I used my claws to scale the wall. I was trying to lure him up to the rooftops. He would be at a disadvantage there, after all you can't web swing to safety on thin air. He wouldn't be able to doge my attacks as easily, or at least that's what I thought.

"So _who_ are you exactly? Spawn of the Lizard or something?" Spider-man asked sarcastically once we reached the rooftops. Once again, instead of answering his question/joke, I launched my claws at him. And when they once again failed to land a hit, I raced up my fists ready.

Now I'll admit that I'm not the best fighter ever, which was pretty obvious by the way Spider-man dogged my attacks so easily. After all the guy had more experience fighting while I didn't have nearly as much. I kicked, punched, and clawed at the masked hero relentlessly to no avail.

"Okay, look chatty, I can tell by the look in your eyes that this is personal, so maybe you can tell me what I did that made you hate me so much?" Spider-man asked as he sidestepped my latest feeble attempt to hit him.

"Don't take this personally, since this isn't personal to me at all. I just don't have a choice." I replied, throwing a punch aimed at his face.

"Don't have a choice?" He repeated, forming the words into a question, as he ducked out of harm's way. "Everyone has a choice, and you're making the wrong one right now."

"No, not everyone has a choice. Not always as least. This nightmare wasn't my choice. And what gives you the right to judge my choices as right or wrong? Who do you think you are?" I shot back, preparing to try and hit him again.

"You're hurting people, that's what makes your choice wrong!" He shot back as he tried to counterattack, only for me to get lucky and dodge him by mere centimeters.

"Not people, just _you_!" I corrected as I finally managed to dig my claws into his shoulder. I had been aiming for his neck, but was just as happy to see myself finally hit him for once. As my claws sank into his soft flesh, he cried out in pain; even though it was no more than a mere "ouch!"

"So if this isn't personal, then why such determination?" He asked once he had pulled himself free of my grip, taking my claws with him.

"Because the sooner I finish you off, the sooner everything goes back to normal!" I snapped, firing a round of claws at point blank. Three claws hit their target this time, one ripping into his forearm as the other two buried themselves into his good shoulder.

Taking the opportunity while he was busy with my claws, I used my poor excuse for a round house kick and nailed him in the rips with my toe-claws. From there I wailed my fist into the back of his head, knocking him to the ground. And while he struggled to get back up, I kicked up and into his jaw.

Realizing that my fighting instincts were really starting to kick in, I stopped my assault for a moment. It was then that it finally clicked in that Spider-man was on the ground and vulnerable at this very moment. I could deliver the final blow now. It was best to get it over with and move on with my life. I should've ended it there, but I hesitated.

It felt as if time had frozen as I stood there, claws positioned and ready, as I tried to make up my mind. I needed to kill him right? Getting my life back depended on that, but could I ever live with myself if I actually killed someone for my own gain? Did I even have the guts to actually kill in the first place? I had gotten this far and now, in the moment of truth, I just couldn't bring myself to finish him off. I could lie to myself all I wanted, convince myself that this wasn't personal and that Spider-man had no impact on my life, but I still wouldn't be able to go through with it.

It was one thing to _think_ I could actually commit the act, but it's different when you're about to _do_ it. I had lied to myself and tricked myself into thinking I could do this. And here I was, given the opportunity to kill and I just wasn't able to.

That slight moment was all that Spider-man needed. Taking advantage of the moment, he shot one good aimed web at my chest; which caught me off guard, ripped me from my thoughts, and knocked me off balance. I staggered backwards in an attempt to regain my balance, but he rapidly webbed my feet up and pulled them out from under me, sending me to a hard crash onto the cold rooftop. And with real effort on Spider-man's part he got to his feet and began to tie me up with layer after layer of web.

I struggled a bit, but didn't really have my whole being into getting myself free. What was the point? I knew now that I wasn't going to kill him, I just couldn't. I could probably out run him if I broke free, but where would I go? I didn't have a home to return to anymore.

"Hang tight snaky, the cops will be up here soon enough to retrieve you." He said once he deemed the amount of webbing he had covered me with to be enough to hold me there until the authorities came. Then he walked over to the the edge of the building, but before swinging down he turned to give one last look at me.

If I still had normal hearing I probably wouldn't have heard his aloud, mumbled thoughts. But my hearing was superhuman now and I heard what was mumbled crystal clear.

"I take that back, you're more like a Dragon than a snake."

* * *

**Author's Note:**** Hello Readers! Thank you for reading, I hope you all like the story so far. Anyways, getting down to business, I thought that this would be a good time to mention when this story actually takes place within the Spectacular Spider-man storyline. (A friend of mine asked and I feel like an idiot for not putting this in the prologue, sorry!) So just as an FYI I thought that I would mention that this story begins before episode 7 "Catalysts". Thanks for your time! **


	6. Trust

Chapter 05: Trust 

Today is my fifth day locked up in this hell hole, and I'm convinced that I'm going to end up being left to rot here.

My cell is different from everyone else's. The wall with the doors that keeps me locked out from the world is made up of four layers. Two steel bar layers separated by two layers of impenetrable safety glass. There are four separate doors for every layer and four separate locks for my cell. I can see through the glass and bars and into the next cell across the hall, but I try to avoid doing so as much as possible. My reason- The sandman; who I recognized from newspapers. He gives me the creeps and I've caught him _looking_ at me quite a few times since I arrived here.

I can't stand it here, the stench and noise that are magnified by my super senses cause killer headaches. I can't sleep here for very long either; it's too much noise for me. And then there's the fact that the doctors and guards are setting me up so that I seem worse than I actually am.

They think I'm dangerous, which I am, but they also think I'm crazy, which I'm not. I know they think that since they talk in front of me as if I'm not there or as if I don't understand. I interact with them though, talk to them and tell them that I do understand what they say. I also see it reflected in their eyes, the fear and disgust, no matter how hard they try to hide it. Like if I raise my voice to defend myself, the doctors flinch away and the guards reach for their guns, as if I'll attack at any moment. They treat me like the vicious monster I _look_ like.

They, the doctors, think that I suffered a terrible trauma and that my mind wasn't able to cope which resulted in me losing my mind. But they're wrong, completly wrong. The reason they think they're justified to say I'm crazy is because of the scene with my mother.

It was only this morning that they called my mom to tell them about me. When they called they told her that they had found Bridget. Well of coarse she raced over here and when she saw me…well it was only natural for her to freak out. She told them right out that _I_ wasn't Bridget. She then went on to explain that I had anything to do with her; that I wasn't part of her life. She told them all about the time I "_Broke_" into her house and how I "_almost viciously killed her_". Lastly, before storming out of the place in tears, she told the guards not to call her again unless they actually found Bridget.

That whole ordeal was a few hours ago and I've been locked in my cell ever since. In order to help me kill some time, I just sit here and think about my situation. My topic of thought at the moment was about who_ I_ am. When I first arrived in this hell hole they asked me for my name I replied with "Bridget Hunter" because it _is_ my name. But when my mom told them that I wasn't, they stopped referring to me as such and have been calling me "it" and "You" for the past few hours. _I_ know who _I_ am; even if other people don't. But what made _me_ "Bridget"? Was it my light chocolate eyes that if the light hit them just right they almost looked hazel? Was it my too white and sensitive skin? Or was it my spiky red hair that never does what I want it to? I doubt that it's the latter since it's the _only_ thing about me, Bridget, that hasn't changed. So what is it about me that doesn't make me "Bridget" anymore? I'm still the same on the inside, why don't they see that? Because they don't look hard enough and don't really care. Why? Shouldn't I be given the benefit of a doubt? Why do they assume that I don't know who I am when I've been the same person my whole life?

"You sure are a quiet one." A voice spoke, ripping me from my thoughts. Looking toward the bars and glass I saw the source of the voice; a tall elderly man with a bald head, big nose, and wearing an orange suit identical to the one I have on. He was staring at me through dark emotionless eyes. Instead of responding with words, I just shrugged my shoulders.

"Don't bother with her, Toomes. She don't do nothin', just stares at the wall all day. I'm startin' to think she's as crazy as they say." Sandman commented from within his own cell.

"I'N NOT CRAZY!" I snapped, unaware that my claws had grown to a noticeably lethal and threatening length. I wasn't crazy; these people who don't know me shouldn't just assume things of me and judge me when they know so little! I was losing my patience with people in general in here, something that I usually didn't do…well, that was before the whole kidnapping and experimenting thing turned my life upside down that is.

"Guess you ain't as stolid as they say." Sandman replied with a somewhat victorious grin. It was like he was looking to get some sort of reaction from me, which he got. I shrunk my claws, but didn't take my eyes off the pair. They were up to something, I could sense that much, but I didn't know what.

"So, what are you in for?" The man called Toomes asked as he took the tray of food and slipped it through a small (and usually locked) hatch big enough for the tray only.

"For getting my ass handed to me by Spider-man." I replied. It was the truth. Even though I had a chance to kill the guy, and didn't seize it, I know that I had only gotten lucky. I didn't know how to fight, and I could tell that Spider-man had held back. It wasn't that I lacked strength and power, I only lacked the experience needed in a fight. That, and the guts to actually kill the guy.

"That makes three of us." Toomes replied bitterly.

"Yeah, most people in here would like to get back at the web-creep." Sandman added.

"Spider-man is second on my list, it's Osborn who's really earned my wrath. And as soon as I get out of this place, I'm going to give him what he deserves." Toomes vowed.

That was when it hit me. Norman Osborn was the other man in the car with Hammerhead that day. I knew he looked familiar! I've seen his pictures several times on advertisements for Oscorp. He worked for the "Big Man", who's identity was still unknown to me. Osborn was just another piece in my puzzle. Where he fits, I don't know, but I do know that he is connected to my situation in some way.

"You know Norman Osborn?" I asked Toomes, cautions of my tone. It was obvious that he strongly disliked Mr. Osborn, but I wanted to know why. I wanted to know, but decided that instead of outright asking for the information regarding the man, I would just try to get him to tell me without meaning to.

"Used to work for the jerk." He replied. "And then he stole my invention and didn't credit me."

"Why do you ask? You got a bone to pick with him or something?" Sandman asked, not really looking like he cared or anything. This was just a way for him to kill a bit of time.

"Yes and no. I don't have a real bone to pick at...yet." I replied.

"Any bone you have to pick with that excuse of human life is good enough for me." Toomes replied shortly after putting a food try in the electrical slot to Sandman's cell and then leaving.

'_Good enough for what? To be friends? Why would he want to be friends with me, what does he gain by doing so?_' I asked myself, not entirely sure what he meant by what he said. This whole place made me defensive, something I didn't exactly like but I needed. I didn't, and couldn't, trust anyone here.

"So kid, what happened that made you like _that_?" Sandman asked shortly after Toomes left us alone once more, his tone sounding more like he were asking me what the weather was instead of something personal.

"You first. What made you all sandy?" I replied slyly, picking up my tray of food. I wasn't going to tell him anything without him telling me something first, why should I? I'm sick of the staff of this hell hole just using me, why should I allow the other inmates to do so as well?

Walking back to my bed, which was really a cold metal bench, I looked down to see my lunch, or the poor excuse that passed for it. The contents were under-cooked spaghetti with processed meat sauce. There was over-salted fruit and under-salted mashed potatoes on the side, along with an elementary school style milk carton with the little mazes and crossword puzzles on the sides.

"It's complicated." Sandman replied.

"_So_? Like I'm not?" I replied, my voice heavy with sarcasm.

"Heh, good point." He replied with a small grin. "Fine. I used to work for the Big Man, but when he bailed me outta jail he used me as a guinea pig. I was supposed to get some sort of super armor or something like that, but instead the experiment failed and I ended up like this." He finished.

"Wait, hold up. You mentioned the "Big Man", who is he exactly?" I asked, now more interested in Sandman than I was a few moments ago.

"Don't know. Only the top dogs know who he really is. I'm so low on the chain that I don't actually know him." He replied. "Why? Think he can fix whatever happened to you? If that's the case then forget it, he doesn't do anything unless it benefits him in some really big way."

"No, I'm asking because I'm in the same boat as you. That jackass turned me into a guinea pig as well, and this is the result of that. Stupid Oscorp and their underground experiments…" I replied, muttering the last part more to myself than to Sandman, before chewing on some cardboard spaghetti.

"So that's where Osborn comes into this. I guess it really is a small world." Sandman replied. "So what did they do to get you to go through with the experiment? Pay you or something?"

"He had one of his goons to snatch me off the street. I, unlike you, didn't agree to any of it." I replied.

"Sounds like something they would do." He replied, no hint of sympathy behind his tone. Not that I _needed_ his sympathy or anything...In fact, I didn't.

"Whatever." I replied, using the same bitter-sounding and sarcastic tone as before. "Anyways, I'm just looking to get a clearer picture of this whole mess. Did the Big Man order you to kill Spider-man or anything like that?" I asked after forcing some of the over-salted fruit down my throat.

"Yeah, but I went after him on my own freewill and on my own terms. What about you? I take it that his men told you to." He replied.

"Yep, with the promise that if I killed the bug that I would be turned back." I replied. "It's only now that I realize how stupid and naive I really was. To think that they would actually be able to change me back if I did what they said." I laughed at myself a bit.

"Don't beat yourself up too much. The Big Man has tricked smarter people than you into doing his dirty work." Sandman replied.

"Right…" I replied as I munched on a fork full of mashed potatoes.

The conversation pretty much died out there. We went back to our pre-lunch silence. But I did wonder about Sandman a little. He was just another crook here, a stronger-than-your-adverage one at that, and I needed to remind myself of that. Even if his story was similar to mine, it didn't mean that I should trust him or become friends with him. If I ever could be considered a friend to him that is. Heck, for all I knew he could be telling me some cock and bull story to get me to sympathize with him. He could be using me.

I really couldn't trust him, but some weaker part of me wanted to. There was something about him that was almost _likeable_. But, the real question still remained: was he a possible friend or a foe?


	7. Prisoners

Chapter 06: Prisoners

"Psst! Hey Bridget, wake up!" The familiar voice of Flint Marko called from the cell across from mine.

Showing my irritation to being woken up, I growled a bit. _'This better be pretty damn important,' _I bitterly thought to myself as I pulled myself up into a sitting position. Sleep is a rarity for me, I usually only manage to steal about twenty minutes of it every hour or so. It's not good, I know, but it's better than the ten minutes at a time that I used to manage during my first week here.

This place is starting to get to me, not in the sense that I'm losing my mind like the doctors say I am, but that I'm physically becoming weaker. First of all, the lack of sleep isn't good for my health. And then there's the fact that I've lost a considerable amount of weight which is mostly due to lack of nutrition since I can't always bring myself to eat the food they serve, they think of me as an animal and have tried to serve me nothing but raw meat on many occasions. And then we come to the topic of my scales. They usually sport a dark grey color, that I am beginning to get used to, but now they're a ghastly white color. The doctors here assume that this is caused from a lack of vitamin D, which I should be getting from the sun…only problem is that I'm locked up in my cell 24/7, so I don't get outside much. It's funny actually, just my luck that it's my third week in Rykers and I'm already starting to rot.

"What is it Flint?" What's _so_ important that you had to wake me up?" I asked. My voice sounded groggy, but there was no way to mistake the irritation that went along with it. Flit and I had introduced exchanged names about two weeks ago. It wasn't like we were "friends" or anything, even though we talked with each other from time to time. I was just tired of being called "Nails" and "Scales" and he was tired of being called "Sandy", that's all.

"Toomes told me some very interesting information today." He replied.

"Yeah, and?" I replied, not in the mood to play guessing games with him.

"Otto Octavious just arrived last night. He and Toomes share a cell now. Ya know those arms of his, right?" He replied, adding a question at the end.

"Of course I do." I replied, remembering only too well what they looked like when he was measuring me shortly after _the_ experiment.

"They're attached to him now, like permanently. Some freak accident occurred and they melted to his skin." Flint replied, sounding as if parole had come early for him.

"Karma's a b!tch." I replied, shrugging my shoulders. I didn't really see why this conversation couldn't have waited until after I woke up. I honestly didn't care what happed to Otto Octavious.

Flint chuckled a bit at my response before continuing. "You don't get it, do you? He's the one who _changed_ us. He might be able to change us back."

I seriously doubted it. Actually, I had given up all hope of ever "going-back-to-normal". Also, what was with the "us"? I honestly hope that he doesn't think we're friends or anything, because we're _not_. As far as I know Flint didn't have any wishes to return to normal…or he had never mentioned them when we talked. And that was a conversation that he brought up often when there wasn't anything else to talk about: if I wanted to be "normal" again.

"Whatever." I lamely replied, unable to think of anything better to say to express my thoughts of doubt.

"Wait, I thought that you –"

"It's not that I don't want to go back to normal. I do, but right now I would rather take what I have and deal with it then end up worse and having to deal with more than I can handle. And besides that, I'm not letting him test or inject anything into me unless he's one hundred percent certain that it'll be quick, painless, and effective. I'm not going to let him mutate me any further than I already am." I interrupted.

Flint opened his mouth to reply, but then decided against whatever he was about to say, and shut it again. He shrugged his shoulders as if to say "Your choice" and then turned from me to look at the wall. This was his way of saying that they conversation was over.

Deciding that a few more minutes of sleep would be nice, I flopped back down on the metal bench I called "bed" and took a cat nap.

* * *

The following day something new happened in the daily routine that I had become accustomed to in Rykers. Usually I was locked in my cell 24/7 and the only human contact I received was from the doctors I saw once a week, the guards who checked in once every hour, and during my conversations with Flint and Toomes, when he bought the food cart that is.

Today was different because they let me out into the yard with the other inmates. The reasoning behind this was that the doctors thought I could get some sort of illness from my lack of vitamin D. So now I was required to spend at least one hour outside a day and the only exception to this was if it was raining or snowing out. And lucky me, it happened to be a rather nice fall afternoon.

My first reaction was that the sun was way too bright, or at least brighter than I remembered it being. Instead of showing weakness though, I refrained from shielding my eyes and pretended that the intense light didn't bother me. And once my eyes began to adjust, I could see the sea of countless eyes that were glued to me. The sight matched the sound of whispered comments, questions, and jeering remarks that my sensitive ears picked up on way before my eyes had adjusted.

I easily spotted Toomes minding his own business as he read a newspaper. He was leaning against a fence as he read. I didn't walk up to him though. He, like Flint, wasn't someone I considered to be a friend. Even though we chatted when he came by with the food cart during meal time; he had never introduced himself or bothered to ask me my name. I only knew his name because Flit had told me; the same went for Toomes concerning my own name. And even though he knows my name he never once referred to me by it. Instead, he usually calls me "kid".

Toomes merely looked up from his paper, looked in my direction, and nodded his head slightly. A gesture that showed that he had acknowledged me out here. Shortly after he returned his attention to the paper and probably didn't give me as second thought.

I walked through the sea of orange suited people, which wasn't hard since everyone got out of my way if I walked by. They regarded me as though I had some sort of contagious plague that they would catch if they were anywhere near me. _I_ knew that this wasn't the case, but that's what my appearance must've looked like to them. So, not bothering to say anything to anyone, I walked over to the corner of the yard, leaned against the fence, and sat down.

If I have to be out here, I might as well take a nap while it's quiet. Maybe I'll be able to get a solid hour of sleep, which would be nice. But, before I would let my guard down to take a nap, I decided to take one last look at my surroundings.

The interest in me was beginning to calm down and the other inmates in the yard were beginning to go back to whatever they were doing before I arrived, but they stayed far away from my spot in the corner. I noticed three men over in the weights section staring at me, but they quickly looked the other way when they noticed me looking back at them. All three of them except for one that is. The medium height man with short chocolate hair and matching eyes continued to stare at me for a while. It was almost like he was studying me; trying to guess what I would do next.

Getting bored of my staring contest with the man, I turned my attention to the man at the phone booth. It was obvious that he was Otto Octavious. He still sported the same ugly hair cut and bulky square glasses, but instead of the lab coat attire that I had seen him in when we'd first met, he was wearing an orange jumpsuit identical to mine except for the four holes torn in the back. The holes made room for the harness which, at one time, supported the four mechanical tentacle-like arms. He was so deep into his conversation that he ignored my existence altogether. A fact, that for the moment, I was rather happy about.

Deciding that no one nearby was going to take advantage of my weaknesses while I was asleep, I relaxed a little and closed my eyes. _'Hey, maybe this outside thing just might actually work out,'_ I naively thought to myself just a little too early.

"Hey kid, you in the wrong place or something?" A snotty voice asked. My eyes shot open to see the speaker, a man with black hair and clear blue eyes asked. The man wasn't really muscular or tall like others here were, but he wasn't a shrimp either. He and the two other men standing beside him must've walked up to me while I was beginning to doze off. "Juvenile Hall is on the other side of the island." He teased.

"And besides, this is the men's yard. The woman's yard is on the other side of that wall." A different one said as he pointed to a thick concrete wall to the east of us.

"Do me a favor and go away; I'm not in the mood to talk." I replied, giving them once chance to go away. If they didn't the next words I opened my mouth for wouldn't be friendly. Which was okay since being 'nice' all the time didn't get you what you wanted here. For me, it didn't get rid of the accusations about me being crazy and it certainly didn't help in my conversations with the guards. They all treated me badly regardless of my attitude. I learned that to get what you wanted and needed you sometimes needed to be a foul mouthed brat and play on the fears of others. Two things I was very good at.

"Don't feel like leaving'." The third man replied while flashing me a rotted, yellow smile. "Nah, I feel like stayin' and having us some _fun_." The second man in their group licked his lips.

It was then that the realization of _how_ they were looking at me clicked. Regardless of how old I was or how I looked, I was still a young_ lady_. I was something they weren't exposed to everyday at Rykers, since they were right about inmates being split by gender. Chills ran down my spine, and I felt disgusted by their behavior.

"So much as _touch_ me and I'll rip your eyes out and turn you inside out." I threatened, flashing fully grown and deadly claws into their view.

The first man went to say something, but was interrupted by a new voice. "There a problem over here?" The voice wasn't that deep and carried a heavy southern accent. Looking past the three men, I saw the man who I'd been in a staring contest with a few minutes ago.

"Nah. No trouble." The third man replied.

"You sure 'bout that, cut it sure don't look it from where I'm standing." The new man replied.

"We're sure. There's no trouble here. Actually, I think you're trying to stir some up. Why not go back to your pals over there and mind your own business." The ringleader replied.

"That's right, ain't no trouble here. Right kid?" The third man spoke, backing up his friend while dragging me back into the mess. When I didn't answer quick enough for him, he gave me a glare and asked again if they were causing trouble.

I responded by flipping them the bird and saying, "Go the **** away already."

The man who came over to help me looked slightly amused by the response, while the other three, looking very bitter, finally walked off to a different area of the yard. I bet that they would've done something had the other man not been there.

"Thanks…" I finally spoke, breaking the short awkward silence between us once they'd left.

"Don't mention it. If they bother you again, threaten them with my name, they'll back off. Name's Montana, by the way." Montana replied.

"I'm Bridget." I replied.

"Besides, I have a message to pass on to you anyways." Montana continued.

"Yeah?" I asked, showing that I was listening.

"Octavios knows someone on the outside who can bust us out. I've heard you got somethin' against the bug. What it is, I don't care, just if you still wanna go after him, in two weeks time me and a group of us are gonna go after him. Finish him off for good. You're welcome to join in if you want." Montana explained. I was smart enough to guess who 'the bug' was; Spider-man.

"Who's 'us'?" I asked.

"Me, the Doc, Sandman, Rhino, Vulture, and the guy on the outside." He replied.

"Thanks for the message. But I need to talk to Octavious myself before I decide to join your little group." I replied. I needed to think about this thoroughly. There was also that little matter of finding out if I could trust any of them. Probably not, them all being crooks, liars, and murderers, but it still couldn't hurt to check with Octavious first before making a decision. I had a lot of questions for Octavious, and I wasn't about to let myself be used again. I needed to make sure that Octavious wasn't tricking me into doing his dirty work.

"You wanna talk to him or would you like to give me a message for him?" Montana asked.

"I'll speak to him myself, thanks though." I replied. And without another word, Montana left me alone by the corner of fence.


	8. Breakout

Chapter 07: Breakout

"A _Sand_wich? This is a joke, right? Raw silicates only Toomes, I don't need food no more!" Flint shouted as he threw his dinner, a ham sandwich, at the glass wall of his cell. This was a daily ritual and, had it been any other day, I would have ignored them. But it was Toomes' response that gave me the hint.

"Just save room for dessert; Spider-man à la mode."

'_It's today. Just wait for it then, it probably won't be much longer now_' I told myself as I stared off into Flint's cell as Toomes walked off. He was busy keeping himself occupied by changing his hands into numerous weapons.

If today was _the_ day, then we only had to wait a few hours longer before tasting the sweet taste of freedom. In order to pass the time, I closed my eyes and allowed my mind to wonder back to my conversation with Dr. Octopus; something that I'd been thinking of for a while now.

"_**Otto, have a minute? I need to talk to you." I started as I approached him at the phone booth. He wasn't talking at that particular time, but looked like he was awaiting a phone call. **_

"_**Make it quick. I don't want the guards to suspect anything." He replied. There was something different in his voice. When I first met him, he stammered and didn't sound confident in himself. But now…now he sounds overly confident, strict, stern, and…like a completely different person. Granted I didn't know him very well, but he sent off warning bells in the back of my head. **_

"_**Montana gave me the invitation to your little group." I started, sounding more secure than I felt. I needed to word this carefully without sounding too demanding or wishy-washy. "What's your plan exactly?" **_

"_**My dear Bridget, do you honestly think that I'll just outright tell you my plans out in the open and in front of the guards?" He replied. The way he said 'my dear Bridget' made my skin crawl. **_

"_**I'm not your Bridget." I snapped back automatically, not thinking it through. "And this isn't out in the open or right in front of the guards. Also, I'm not joining your group until I know exactly what to expect." I continued, more aware of what I was saying. I did have a point there, the guards were up the upper levels on the balconies overlooking us; there was no way that they could hear us unless they had my superhuman hearing. And as for being out in the open, it was true that we were out in the yard, but no one was around us that would hear his plans or necessarily care.**_

"_**Still upset about being used? You have much to learn, and it wouldn't hurt you to learn to control your emotions better," He chuckled. "But I guess I could explain a small portion of my plans to you. First of all I plan on having someone on the outside help break us out of this miserable prison. From there we'll meet up with a chopper, piloted by Hammerhead to deliver some supplies. We'll get off the island by a boat, and once we're back in the city our main goal will be getting rid of Spider-man. The reason why we will succeed this time is because he won't be able to focus on us all singly like he did the last time he faced us. There is strength in numbers." He finished.**_

"_**Sounds good so far," I admitted. It was a good plan, but I needed to be careful when around Hammerhead. I didn't like or trust the creep, nor did I entirely trust Octavious either. "So who's this mysterious friend on the outside?" I asked.**_

"_**All will be revealed in good time. That is, if you are joining 'our little group'." He stated mockingly. **_

"_**Yeah… I'm in." I replied after giving it a solid minute of thought.**_

I opened my eyes again and looked around my cell for the millionth time, still in deep thought. I had been thinking about that little talk two weeks ago and wasn't entirely sure I had made the right decision. I had my own reasons for saying 'yes', but I wasn't sure they were the right reasons. Also, I wasn't too sure about the dramatic change in Otto.

The first of my reason was because it was a way out of this hell hole. With my health deteriorating and all, I was about to reach out at any chance to get out of here. Even if it meant going with a bunch of other supervillains and once again hunting down Spider-man.

And speaking of my deteriorating health, I have been doing better. My scales are a darker grey again, but I'm still really thin. Also, I'm still sleep deprived since I can't sleep longer than twenty minutes or so in this place.

And then there was the fact that I wanted to get my life back…well, that was only a part of it. I also wanted a bit of revenge. I'm so sick of being subject to the guards and doctors bad treatment. It isn't, for a lack of a better word, fair! Yes, I know that the world isn't fair, but what gives them the right to treat me as they do? They never gave me a chance to prove that I'm not evil or dangerous. And then there's –

I was interrupted from my thoughts as the lights in the hallway went out. '_It's begun_.' I thought to myself, instantly realizing what was happening. I looked over to Flint's cell and he gave me a reassuring look and a nod of the head that told me that this was _it_.

Not even a full minute later, a rather large person appeared and broke down Flint's cell door. On closer inspection of the guy I could see exactly why he was called 'Rhino'. His suit looked extremely similar to one.

"Back in business." Flint said once he rearranged himself after exiting his cell. He high fived Rhino and then turned his attention to my cell.

"You gonna let me out or what?" I asked with a sarcastic smile. He stretched his hand out, and rearranged the sand that made up the hand so that he could pick the locks to my cell. There was no way to bust through the two layers of plastic, so this was the fastest way.

"Are you coming out or not?" He retorted, also smiling, as he opened the fourth door to my cell. I hopped off my bench and quickly jogged out of my cell.

"It's surprisingly nice to be in the hallway without being in handcuffs." I joked.

"Marko, we need to get to the bottom floors. The clock already started to tick, and we're probably behind…or something like that." Rhino cut in, all serious.

"Get the camera's." Flint told me, pointing to one at the end of the hallway.

I already knew my job in the operation, wiping out any and all guards and cameras in our path, but didn't bother to waste time saying I already knew. The only reason why I was assigned such a pointless job was because Rhino and Flint were supposed to save their energy until we got to the outside. Otto said something about not wanting the authorities using the footage caught from our break out to be used against us at a later date. It was Otto's plan, and I didn't dare to second guess or challenge it.

I went to work as we ran through the maze of hallways that led to the main hallway on the ground floor. Cameras were one thing to destroy, but guards were another. Even though I hated them and they had treated me horribly, I couldn't kill them. Jail had done a lot to me, but it hadn't made me a heartless killer. So I knocked them out and left them lying on the cold floor of the prison. What happed to them from there, I could honestly care less.

Flint and Rhino's jobs were to bust Otto, Toomes, and Montana out of their cells. They did their job with ease, Rhino ripping the bars off of Otto and Toomes' cell while Flint broke the lock off of Montana's cell. Once they were out in the hallway with us, Rhino charged through the wall and brought us to the second stage of the operation.

Rhino was now acting as the body guard of the group and bulldozing his way through walls and guards. I had slightly mixed feelings as I began to notice the shocked, frightened, and even determined looks on the guard's faces. Some of them were afraid of us, as they should be, but others were determined to hold their ground and prevent us from escaping. Those who were determined, why did they try so hard? They must've know that they wouldn't win, that Rhino couldn't be stopped by their feeble tranquilizers, just seeing the unconscious bodies of their friends and coworkers should've told them that much. And those who were obviously afraid, why did they fight too? Was it possibly just simply because it was their job? Or was it some sense of duty that they felt attached to? They only made their lives more difficult by standing in our way.

We eventually made our way to the wall closest to the ocean surrounding Ryker's. The group came to a sudden halt, hidden from the search lights, as we waited a few moments. Otto was staring at his watch, deep in thought and probably counting down the seconds until the next part of the operation unfolded.

"And…now." He muttered as two lights above us were shorted out. And, not a minute later, a huge hole was created in the wall. The bricks hadn't finished falling into their new places on the dark ground as we all ran through to the other side, desperately awaiting our freedom. We were so close now. "Ahh Maxwell, my dear boy." Otto greeted a person who I couldn't see, since Rhino blocked my view.

"Uh, Doc, I kinda prefer Electro." The person replied. I stepped to the side of Rhino and got my first glance at the one known as Electro. He was wearing some sort of odd suit type thing, and his head and hands appeared to be made of raw electricity.

"I understand completely. Now, if you would do the honors." Otto replied, unbuttoning his shirt to reveal the harness that his missing arms are usually attached to. Electro reached out a sparking hand and charged the harness.

I watched and waited wordlessly next to Flint and Rhino as the helicopter arrived just when Otto planned for it to. I clenched my fists and forced myself not to say anything or show any emotion towards Hammerhead as he opened the door to the thing.

"Boys." He greeted with a grin as he threw a suit case at Otto and Toomes, a lady next to him tossed suit cases at Montana and his two friends. The others got busy opening the suit cases and inspecting their gear, making sure that nothing was damaged. "Okay. Ox, Fancy Dan, with me. Montana, you stick with these bozos for now. The last boat off the island is that way." He said as he pointed to a distant dock. Montana's friends nodded their silent good-bye to Montana as they hopped onto the helicopter with Hammerhead.

Without saying anything else, Otto, Toomes, and Montana packed the suit cases, and with Rhino, Flint, and me, we all began running towards the dock. As we were running, the helicopter took off.

"You handled that better than I expected." Flint mused as we ran.

"What did you expect? That I'd murder him on the spot? I hate him enough, but I'm no fool Flint." I replied, trying not to sound as though I was tired and breathless from running.

"I know you're not a fool, I just thought that you would be more vocal about not accepting his help. That's all." Flint replied, giving me an amused smirk.

"Guess I'm just full of surprises, aren't I? And in case you didn't notice, he didn't even acknowledge my existence." I replied. That was the only part about seeing Hammerhead that I was thankful for, and I wanted to stay under his radar for a while longer. Once we were done with Spider-man, Hammerhead was next on my short list of people that I need to get back at. And it would be all the easier to get rid of him if he didn't consider me to be a threat.

"Get in!" Montana hissed at us all as he took the driver's seat. He was the only one out of us who knew how to drive the thing, so it was only natural that he took that seat. Otto sat in the shot gun seat next to him. In the middle row of the boat Toomes sat in the left seat directly behind Otto, Flint sat in the middle seat next to Toomes, Electro took the other middle seat next to Flint, and I sat in the right seat next to Electro. The four of us had to squeeze into the middle row because Rhino took up the whole back row by the motor.

It wasn't until we were far from Rykers that I finally relaxed a little. Bringing my knees up to my chest, I hugged them there and enjoyed the feeling of the wind in my hair. I missed the outside world for the little things, instead of the modern things that the others missed it for. And for a moment, just a short moment, I allowed myself to close my eyes and take in the feelings of the wind and the light spray of water.

"So, uh, Dragon, you're a quiet one, aren't you?" Electro commented, obviously not sure if he should break the solid silence that had fallen over us all or not. I turned my head so that I was looking at him when I replied.

"Umm, what did you call me?" I asked, not sure if I should feel dumb because he was talking to someone else or confused by the sudden nickname.

"Dragon," He replied. "It's your alias, right? Sorry, it's just what the Bugle called you so I just assumed it was what you called yourself."

"You should take on the moniker of 'Dragon' while we seek revenge on the bug." Montana spoke up before I could ask what the heck Electro was talking about.

"Yeah, I get that I'll need an alternate identity." I agreed. "But where the heck did the Bugle get Dragon from? I look nothing like one." I questioned.

"Nah, you look more like one then you realize." Flint replied.

"Yeah? How? Dragons fly and breathe fire. I can't do any of that stuff." I replied.

"It's your red hair, eyes and scales, they make you look like a reptile." He replied. "And Dragons are reptiles."

"And about the flying, I think we could fix that." Toomes added. I leaned forward so I could see past Electro and Flint and look at him. I gave him a questioning look and waited for him to elaborate. "After all, I am the genius who invented Tech Flight."

* * *

**Author's Note:****That's right, it's a new chapter! And it's...sorta crappy. Yeah, I'm rather sorry that the whole breakout scene and afterwards came out somewhat crappy (AND SHORT!) DX I fail. I was getting frustrated with writer's block and just staring at paper and trying to write, so I decided to go with what I already had as far as my rough draft for this chapter went. I'm killing my brain on Midterm studying, so I mostly blame that. But I am rather happier that I got this typed up and done sooner than I planned on. See, at least I did something right!**

**~Thanks for reading and hope to see you when the next chapter comes out~**


	9. Abilities

Chapter 08- Abilities 

It was about an hour or so after the sun had set, and the sky was now a deep navy color. The rest of the ride in our 'get-away-boat' was relatively short. No one talked the rest of the way, not even when we approached the docks and had to check to see if the coast was clear. Otto resorted to hand signals to tell Flint to check. In response, Flint disarranged his human figure and went up to check.

Flint came back, pointed up, and nodded his head; a signal that the coast was clear and we could get out of the boat. We all took turns climbing out of the boat and up to the main dock on the ladder. Otto, Toomes, and Montana were slightly slower since they were climbing with only one hand, their suit cases keeping their other hands busy as they climbed.

"Split up, we don't want to be followed. Shocker and Electro, you head east and take the long way. Rhino and Sandman, you go west, the shortest way. Vulture and Dragon will head north. You all know the address; I expect to see you there before dawn." Otto ordered, splitting us up into teams. Without saying anything, we teamed up and went our separate ways.

Everything went well for awhile as Toomes and I kept to the dark alleyways and less busy streets. My sharp eyesight made navigating through the darker areas easier. But it took me awhile for my hearing to adjust to all the noise of the city. To my surprise, the city's sounds weren't as harsh as they were back in Rykers. I wondered if that was because Rykers had a really bad echo and, like the city, someone was always up. The city didn't have that echo to it, and listening for approaching cars and people was easier than it should've been.

"We're here, let's go." Toomes said, about to leave the safety of the shadows to cross the street to our hideout.

Instinctively I stretched my hand out to prevent him from doing so. "_Car_," I hissed, loud enough for him to hear me. I had heard the car approaching, and it was a good thing that I stopped him too. The vehicle turned out to be a police car on patrol.

"Thanks." He breathed as the car rounded a corner and left our field of vision.

"No problem." I replied as we raced across the street.

The building we were using as our hideout was a condemned hotel building. The place looked horrible, and completely uninviting. Several windows were boarded up, but there were a few exceptions that sported broken glass. It was perfect for not attracting unwanted attention. It was also remote enough that we didn't need to be worried about neighbors reporting us or anything.

"Hey, look who it is. About time. What took you so long?" Flint asked as we walked in the door, a somewhat amused grin on his face. He was sitting on a large chair in the middle of the living room area, his feet up on the remains of what was once a coffee table. Rhino took up one of the two couches next to him.

"Naturally, the cops are everywhere. So it took us awhile to make sure we avoided them." I replied, shrugging my shoulders. It hadn't taken us that long to get here, maybe an hour at most. There were still several hours left before midnight, so I failed to see how an hour had been as long as he made it sound.

"Huh?" Rhino asked stupidly. I was really beginning to wonder if he had a brain or not, but decided that since I didn't know him well yet that I wouldn't judge him so harshly.

"Other than that, I presume that there were no difficulties." Otto stated more than asked.

"None." Toomes answered.

"Good." Otto replied, turning his attention back to working on his mechanical arms.

It wasn't until Toomes walked over to the table with his suitcase that I walked towards the moldy couch opposite the one Rhino was sitting on. As I took my seat, I really took in my surroundings. The wood tables were splintered and cracked in places, showing their age. The carpet was somewhat moist under my feet. The air even held a heavy sent of mildew and mold along with what I guessed to be dead animals that probably got in through the broken windows on the floors above us, which my superhuman sense of smell could detect. Otto had already explained that we would be here for one night only, long enough to rest and get enough energy to fight Spider-man tomorrow. But I wondered if less than twelve hours was too long.

Becoming bored with the scene of the room, I turned my attention to Otto and Toomes at what used to be a dining room table. Otto was still messing with his mechanical arms, inspecting them and repairing them with some of the advanced looking tools found in his suitcase. While Toomes, on the other hand, wasn't working on the seemingly perfect Tech Flight suit of his. He was working on a different suit, reading blueprints and using several tools to attach mechanical parts to the new fabric.

After a while even Flint and Rhino stopped talking and began to amuse themselves by watching Otto and Toomes work. Toomes was the one to break the silence that had fallen over us all though.

"Dragon, come here for a minute." Curious, and a little unsure, I walked over to the table where he sat. "Hold out your arm." He instructed. I did as I was told and allowed him to measure the length of my arm with a mini measuring tape. He jotted down the measurement on sticky note, then measured how tall I was. "You're good." He said, dismissing me as he once again went to scribble down the measurement.

"Alright." I replied, not entirely sure what he needed my measurements for, as I headed back towards my spot on the couch. "So, what're you working on anyways?" I asked as I flopped down on the couch.

"Your wings," Toomes replied airily.

"My what?" I asked, a little surprised. I know that he'd said something about Tech Flight wings on the boat, but I hadn't thought he'd been serious about making me a set of wings.

"You were _serious_ about that?" Flint asked, as if reading my mind.

"Did we miss something?" Montana asked, startling me a little. He and Electro had been so quiet coming in that I hadn't heard them until Montana had spoken and they had shut the door behind them.

"Ah, about time. I take it that you didn't run into any trouble on your way here." Otto said, looking up at the pair.

"No problems, Doc." Electro replied as he took a seat at the opposite end of the couch with me. Montana took a seat at the table with Otto and Toomes, opened his case, and got to work on his own suit.

"Now Dragon, I've requested that Adrian makes you a set of wings because it would help you fight and make good use of your strengths. Let's face it, you aren't a close range fighter; with your melee skills being about amateur at most. And I say amateur generously. On the other hand, your aim with your claws at a long range is far better than what I would expect from someone your age and with your experience. Being able to fly would enable you to fight with a sort of upper hand." Otto explained, turning his attention back to me.

I nodded my head to show that I understood. While I wanted to be somewhat angry at him for signaling me out and belittling my fighting skills, even though I will admit they aren't the greatest, I couldn't help but agree with what he had said.

"When in the blue blazes is she supposed to find the time to learn and master that contraption?" Montana asked, being the voice of reason for the moment.

"Adrian has assured me that the suit will be done _long_ before dawn. She can learn to use it then under the cover of the night." Otto replied.

"You expect her to master them before dawn?" Electro asked, sounding rather surprised.

"Yes I do." Otto replied, starting to sound peeved.

"Don't ya think that's – " Flint started, only for me to cut in.

"Hey! Give me a chance. I think I can figure the whole flying thing out, how hard can it be?"

This was as good an opportunity to prove myself to the group. I knew that they thought little of me, and this was my chance to prove them wrong. Most of them thought of me as nothing more than a kid with nothing special to bring to the group, but I wanted them to see that I was more than capable of taking care of myself on and off the battlefield.

"Dragon is right. We're to give her a chance and see how it goes." Otto spoke, making the decision final. There was a slight round of nods and halfhearted agreements before everyone fell to the silence once more.

* * *

I wasn't aware of the exact moment I feel asleep, only that it was some ungodly hour of the morning and still a long way before dawn. I had needed the sleep, and thankfully it was deep and dreamless.

I was woken up by Electro, who was roughly shaking my shoulder and yelling for me to wake up.

"Whaaa." I groaned as I swatted at him and began to fight to stay awake. "I'm awake, I'm awake."

Forcing myself to stay awake, I rubbed my eyes with the backs of my hands, yawned and looked at the group assembled in the main room. They were still in the same spots as before, Rhino and Sand man in the same moldy couch and chair, Montana and Otto at the old table, and Electro on the other end of the couch next to me. Toomes was standing to the side of the couch where I was curled up, a green suit in his arms. The other difference was that Toomes, Montana, and Otto had their suits on. In Otto's case, he had reattached his arms and they hung around him like mechanical snakes; alert and ready to do his bidding.

"Gosh, you're a heavy sleeper." Flint commented.

"And that's an issue, how?" I asked, my voice heavy with sarcasm.

"It's not. It's just that you never slept very long in Rykers, so I assumed you were a light sleeper. That's all." He replied.

"Yeah…watching people while sleep isn't creepy at all." I replied, slightly disturbed by his answer. I heard Electro chuckle lightly at my response, but choose to ignore him.

"Time to suit up." Montana said, deciding to stop our pointless conversation. There was a hint of annoyance behind his words, and even if I couldn't see his face through his mask, I could just imagine the scowl on his face.

"Great." I said, fighting off another yawn. I stood up, took the suit from Toomes' outstretched arm, and walked towards the bathroom on the other end of the room.

It wasn't until I had closed the door behind me that I really inspected the suit. It was surprisingly light, which surprised me since it had a slightly medium sized metallic pack attached to the back.

It looked nothing like the suit that gave Toomes his other identity as the Vulture. Where his was red and black, mine was green and black. Actually, now that I thought about it, my suit looked like it had been modeled off of Electro's. Except mine didn't have boots or anything covering my feet for that matter. Also, instead of full gloves I had fingerless ones that created a V-shape, came up over the back of my hand and palm, and covered half of my middle fingers. The gloves sole purpose was to allow me to still use my claws when I flew.

The wings were also extremely different. Unlike Toomes' wings, which had an almost feather feel and look to them, the ones on my suit reminded me of a bat's wings; thin and webbed looking. My wings began at my sides and ended at my wrist.

Taking my time, I slipped off my orange prison jumpsuit and slipped into my 'super-suit', as I had dubbed it. To my surprise, there was a lot more to the suit than I had originally thought. First of all, if I hadn't seen the metallic pack attached to the suit, I wouldn't have known it was there. It was practically unnoticeable. The wings were surprisingly flexible and allowed me to move around with ease. And under my glove on my right hand, I could feel an almost undetectable button.

Looking at myself in the remnants of an old mirror, I thought that I looked somewhat similar to that dragon in the fourth Harry Potter movie. Except that dragon looked fearless, unbeatable, strong, and terrifying, whereas I looked like some freak in a fancy Halloween costume.

"I'm ready to fly." I said as I walked back out to join the group.

"'bout time." I heard Montana mumble under his breath.

"To the roof then." Otto instructed, his arms moving to support and transport him across the room to a different door that revealed a set of stairs. Everyone else followed, but Otto had to tell Rhino to stay behind.

Once on the roof, Toomes explained how the suit worked. The pack is what would keep me airborne, so I didn't need to flap my wings. My wings were fore steering only. Also, the button on the palm of my glove turned the pack on and off. It sounded rather simple.

"Now, do you know how birds teach their young how to fly?" Toomes asked once he had finished explaining. I did know what birds did, and _so_ did _not_ like where this was heading.

"Yeah," I replied wearily. A smile spread over Toomes' face.

"Great, learn quickly then." Montana said as he shoved me off the edge with no warning.

I permitted myself a small yelp, but forced myself not to scream as I quickly plummeted to toward the incoming ground below. Everything was a blur, and I slightly panicked. I eventually got a grip, calmed down slightly, and scrambled to hit the button in my glove as I frantically spread my arms/wings out.

The effect I felt as I changed direction was instant. The sudden change in momentum and direction stunned me momentarily, making me involuntarily blank out as I tried to adjust the rapid change. The change was too much for my inhuman senses to take in. I felt like I had left my stomach behind to fall as I rocketed towards the clouded night sky.

How the heck did Toomes do this? He'd made it sound so easy. I needed to get this under control before I seriously hurt myself. I was either going to sink or swim, learn to fly or become a pancake. And right now the others were willing to allow me to sink. They didn't have room for weak kids in the group anyways.

In a desperate attempt to stop the assault on my senses that the mix of wind and speed were creating, I tucked my wings in and dived towards the ground, then opened them again to level out; creating a swooping movement that gave me the control I desperately needed. I flew in a straight line for a few seconds, allowing myself to catch my breath and readjust to my surroundings.

As I began to adjust to the speed and feel of flight, I opened my wings more and leaned to the right. A sudden jerk startled me, but I remained in control. The jerk from the change in direction told me that I couldn't turn on a dime with these wings as I had wanted to. I flew in circles around the building, getting the hang of turning and changing altitude when I wanted.

Deciding to experiment, I tucked my wings in my side, twisted my body as I fell, and quickly opened them again for the sharp turn that I hadn't been able to do a few moments ago. I dipped and dived, turned and circled in the night sky. I was finally starting to get the hang of this!

I eventually realized that Toomes, Otto, Flint, and Montana were expecting me to go back and 'check in', so to speak. I flew towards the roof of the building and extended my claws in both my hands and feet. Slightly leaning back and bringing my feet in front of me, I gripped onto the edge of the roof with my feet first. I then brought my hands down, digging my finger claws into the roofing as well, to balance out the sudden landing and preventing me from stumbling forward.

"Good." Was the only praise that was muttered from Otto's lips.

"I thought that you was gonna be a human pancake before you opened them wings." Montana grumbled.

"Yeah, well I'm still as three dimensional as I was before." I replied.

"If you had waited any longer, you would've been a pancake. You defiantly took your time stopping your fall." Flint added. I could've sworn that there was something hidden behind his words. He sounded almost…concerned? No…he couldn't have….why would he care if I fell to my death?

I knew that we all had each other's backs, for _now_ at least. Once our goal was accomplished and Spider-man was dead, it would be every man (and in my case woman) for themselves. We were only a group as long as Spider-man still walked this Earth. That was how it was, and I needed to keep that in mind. I couldn't allow myself to get attached to any of them. No matter how 'nice' they may seem, I just can't. I told myself a long time ago that I wouldn't allow myself to be used as I had in the past.

"Now," Toomes spoke up, pulling me from my brief moment of thinking. "In order to teach you how to fly with more advanced movements and patterns, we're going to play a little game of tag."

"Simple enough, right?" Montana asked, making me feel like he was talking to a young child instead of a teen. It sort of annoyed me, but I didn't act upon it.

"Yeah." I replied, nodding my head.

"Good," Toomes said as he hovered off the ground. "You're it." He finished as he soared upward and then to my far left. I dived backwards off the roof and, because I was ready for it this time, I hadn't fallen so much as a foot before I soared up towards the night sky after him.

Toomes, being more acquainted with the suit and the skies than me, was much quicker than I would've originally thought him to be. It took me awhile to catch up, but once I got close he would dive or swerve out of my reach. The game continued like that for awhile: I would catch up, almost tag him, and at the last possible second he would doge and get away.

Beginning to get frustrated, I decided to try a different tactic. I quickly soared higher into the air, ahead and past Toomes by a few feet. Then I tucked my wings in and allowed myself to flip and fall head first into a dive. Before I fell too far, to the point where I would've crashed into Toomes, I opened my wings again a swoop out; tagging him as I leveled myself out.

"You're it!" I shouted over the sound of whipping air as I few.

I quickly raced across the sky, keeping Toomes in my field of vision at all times. I forced myself to quickly learn how to spiral, zigzag, and loop d' loop out of the way when he closed in. I was starting to get really good at this now. Dodging him was hard, but manageable. And when he tagged me again, chasing after him was somehow easier than it had been before.

There was something about the freedom of flight that I liked. It was exhilarating, and yet peaceful. It had almost become second nature to me in such a short time. I loved the feel of the wind in my hair, I had learned to deal with the loud rush of wind in my ears, and my eyes had adjusted to the drying air as well. Flying felt like it was a part of me. It made me feel like the dragon I was called. Heck, if I ever went back to normal I knew that I would become a pilot.

I taught myself, practiced, and chased Toomes around for a long time; it felt like an hour or so had passed at least since we first came up to the roof. The sky was starting to turn a darkened shade of purple when Otto decided that I had learned and practiced enough.

"That's enough." He called, getting our attention. Toomes swooped in and landed before me. I landed the same way as I had previously, gripping onto the roof with my claws. "We need to get ready for our plans for today, and it's best if you both don't over exert yourselves." He explained. I nodded my head to show that I agreed and understood. Shrinking my claws, I hopped off the ledge of the roof and followed the others back into the horrible smelling shelter of the Hotel.

* * *

**Author's Note:**** I think I've broken a personal record. I don't think I've ever gotten two chapters out in two days! Anyways, I think it's mostly due to the fact that I'm sick and have absolutely nothing else to do. XD Well, moving along to a different topic, the next chapter is going to be broken up into two parts. Yay for major fight scenes! ^_^**

**~See you all when the next (two) chapters come out!~**


	10. Victory

Chapter 09: Victory

This was one of the times I was actually thankful for my advanced and inhuman sight as I watched the scene unfold from my carefully located perch. It allowed me to see our chain of events unfold while maintaining a safe distance. I was just happy that I wasn't involved with the first step of the plan.

Rhino was in the middle of keeping the police busy and trying to draw our targets attention. He charged at an armored car, causing it to flip over and send the small police force assembled to scramble out of its path. I felt somewhat sorry for the cops on duty, their feeble attempts at stopping Rhino were getting them nowhere. They were sending more of their own to the hospital than getting closer to stopping him.

I had to admit, Otto's plans were brilliant. Rhino would wreak havoc and thus lure Spider-man out. At first he would think that his only opponent is Rhino and be lured into a false sense of security. He'll be over confident in his abilities, knowing that he's already beaten Rhino before and think that he'll be able to do it again. Then we'll all show ourselves and ambush him. With our combined strength, finishing him off will be easy. And as long as I don't have to do the actual finishing, all is well with me.

It's just only a matter of time before he shows up.

Right on cue, a black blur swooped into vision and landed on top of the over turned car. I instantly noticed that there was something different about him. His suit was black instead of the blue and red that I'd seen him in last time I saw him. There was something about the black that didn't sit well with me, but I didn't dwell on the feeling for very long.

"Ah Rhino, I knew no prison was wide enough to hold you." Spider-man joked.

"Wide enough huh? You're funny." Rhino replied.

"Ha ha, wow. I knew they taught trades in the slammer, but a sense of humor…" Spider-man trailed off for a moment. And just as he did, Flint made his appearance by punching Spider-man off of his spot on the turned over armored car.

"Sorry Spidy, was I supposed to wait my turn?" Flint snickered once he had rearranged himself to a human figure. Something in his tone told me he had been waiting to do that for a _long_ time.

"Aw, you two are partners again?" Spider-man complained as he forced himself to get up.

"Us two?" Montana asked, coming out of his hiding place. "You ain't getting' off that easy bug."

Toomes suddenly swooped in overhead, and Electro made his grand appearance shortly after. As soon as Electro came into view, I leaped off the building where I was and plummeted towards the car. As I made my presence known to the masked hero as well, I swooped down and landed on top of the car next to Flint. Otto showed up shortly after me.

"Now then arachnid, any last words?" Otto asked.

"Hamada hamada comes to mind…" Spider-man replied. With that, Toomes and I hovered in the air as the group began to close in on the bug.

"Ladies, you may want to step aside." Otto advised two elderly ladies who were unlucky enough to be standing in our way.

"So you can attack that young man? I think not!" One of them replied. I had to give her credit for her bravery. If a group of seven super villains told me to step aside, I would've.

"I'll be fine miss, get to safety." Spider-man told them quickly, probably to prevent any of us harming civilians. That was fine with me, I only wanted to do harm to Spider-man after all. Although I couldn't say the same for some of the others in the group.

"Plow through them." Rhino spoke, seeking approval from Otto first before taking. Otto however held his hand up, telling Rhino to wait. He obviously had my view of the civilians in the area. We were after Spider-man; civilians could wait for another time.

"Shows starting" Spider-man said as he shoved them inside the theater, away from the fight that would soon start. Otto gave him less than a minute before sending his claws through the glass doors and pulling Spider-man back out into the open along with many large glass shards. "Gah! Run! Now! Get as far away as you can!" Spider-man shouted as he struggled to get Otto's tentacles off of him.

"Yes, now run along ladies." Otto waved before tossing the struggling hero towards Montana. This officially began our revenge and the destruction of Spider-man.

Spider-man had barely left Otto's claws before something neon green was caught in the corner of my eyes. I turned my head quick enough to see Montana's attack which knocked Spider-man into a billboard. It was a strange attack; first the green light, then the radio wave-like sound, and finally the light, whatever it was, took a somewhat solid and deadly blast that he could control. Seeing Montana's ability and strength for the first time only made me want to keep on his good side more than I had before.

It took less than five seconds for gravity to kick in and send Spider-man crashing down on some guy's car. Electro took the opportunity to knock in some of his revenge by blasting the car into a flaming hunk of scrap. Yet another person I didn't want to pick a fight with.

But Spider-man, with that uncanny ability to predict incoming danger at the last second, jumped from the car at the last possible second, missing the force of the explosion. As he jumped back, he shot a web at a nearby lamp post; a move he had used many times during the first fight between us. Before he could land and balance himself, I dove for the lamp post with my claws out and ready.

"Gah!" He shouted as my toe claws ripped into his left shoulder, the same one I managed to hit during our first fight. I swooped with him in my grasp and flung him in Rhino's direction.

Although he wasn't fast enough to doge Rhino's bone cracking punch, he did manage to get a grip when he made contact with the wall. Rhino, trying to make full use of time and not allow Spider-man a chance to recover, began to charge at him; horn razor sharp and pointed directly at him.

Forcing himself to stand upright, while using the wall behind him for support, he managed to doge Rhino's charge, if only by mere centimeters. Once again he flung himself, with the use of his webs, to the streetlight post.

"Only seven, huh? What happened? Goblin had other plans?" He joked, although he really wasn't in any position to be making sarcastic remarks. Electro fired a well aimed zap of lighting at his spot on the streetlight post, but his attack missed as Spider-man took to the air again. It was obvious that he was trying to get some altitude; where he would have a bit of an advantage on those in the group who couldn't fly.

Vulture took the opportunity to fly at him for an attack. He managed to land a nice slice across his back, causing Spider-man to shout out in pain. That was another difference between our wings, his were meant to do damage while mine were not, since my claws were my main (and only) weapon.

Changing direction as quickly as he possibly could, Spider-man jumped onto Vulture's back. "Let's start by grounding this bird." He grunted before punching the electrical pack that powered Vulture's suit. As soon as his fist made contact with the metal, he shouted in pain and gripped his hand to fight off some of the pain.

"Fool! This dog's not too old to learn your tricks! My tech is protected by reinforced steel!" Vulture mocked as he flipped, shaking Spider-man off and sending him into the claws of Otto's.

"In fact, none of your former methods will work on us a second time." Otto informed as he tossed the masked hero towards Sandman, who had just finished making his hands take the form of a baseball bat. An overly large baseball bat at that.

Sandman made some snotty remark about the Yankees that I didn't catch as he smacked Spider-man towards a large screen TV. A few sparks followed the impact, and a lot of glass accompanied him on his way back down before he made contact with the hard pavement of the street.

As quickly as he could, Spider-man was on his feet again. Gripping a sewer cover with a web, he whipped it around his head a few times before he flung it in Rhino's direction. Getting a feeling about what he was about to do, I launched all of the claws on my left and right hands at him as fast as I could before he jumped down into the sewer below.

With all the speed I could possibly gain in such a short distance, I zoomed towards the sewer entrance. Upon getting close enough, I tucked my wings in and entered a dive until passing the entrance. I flipped my wings open to stop my fall before I landed headfirst into sewer water and concrete. I gripped onto the concrete above the waterline with my claws and hung there, my wings tucked in and my left hand out and ready to strike at any moment. I looked down the tunnel, scanning for any sign of Spider-man, but he was nowhere in sight.

"Aww! Not again!" Rhino whined as he and the others approached the entrance. Otto, Sandman, Shocker, and Electro all took turns jumping down into the sewer with me. "I don't think I can fit. And I don't do good in tunnels." Rhino complained.

"Keep the police busy," Otto ordered. "We'll handle the wet work."

We hadn't walked too far from the entrance before Shocker asked, "How we supposed to spot the bug?"

"Maybe this'll help." Electro replied, holding up a fist full of lightning briefly before shooting it down the tunnel. Sandman ducked in the nick of time to doge the blast, but it zoomed past my head and Otto's side, missing us my mere centimeters!

"Electro," Otto began calmly, "I'm pleased to see that you've learned to conduct your powers safely through water, but down here you present a danger to the group. Head back up."

"B-but the Spider freak-!" Electro replied, looking at though he were about to throw an electric filled tantrum.

"Maxwell." Otto warned, crossing his arms.

"Yeah Doc…Okay." Electro sulked, pulling his mask back over his face so that he didn't emit any more electricity.

"Hey look, I'm turning to Mud-man here! Can I go too?" Sandman asked as Electro turned and began to walk towards the entrance.

"Amateurs!" Shocker replied as he, Otto and I continued to walk down the tunnel.

"Who you callin' and amateur?" Sandman snapped back.

* * *

We spent quite awhile down there, checking the closest tunnels. But Spider-man was nowhere in sight.

"Any sight of him?" Electro called shortly after Otto returned to the surface.

"None." I could practically see the dark smile that went along with his words. For the time, he actually had a kind of pleased spring in his tone behind his words. "I believe this calls for a celebration. After all, it is as I calculated. Spider-man is unable to defeat us all. His downfall is very near."


	11. Defeated

Chapter 10: Defeated 

"To Spider-man's ignominious defeat!" Vulture toasted, wine glass raised in hand.

"Defeat? Seems to me a job ain't done, till it's done." Shocker replied, tapping the table with his hand. No sooner had he said the words that Rhino banged his fist down on the table.

"You yahoos lost the creep, next time I crush him myself." He snapped, rising from his seat and punching his hand in his fist for emphasis.

"What's with you and revenge? All I ever wanted was a decent score." Sandman replied, rising to his feat as well.

"This obsession with Spider-man is a distraction," Vulture said as he too stood from his seat. He shook his fist in the air to emphasize his next words. "It's Osborn who's truly earned by wrath. Isn't that right Dragon?" He looked to his left where I sat in-between him and Sandman.

"I'm more concerned with giving the Big Man and Hammerhead a well deserved kick in the ass first than I am with figuring out what Osborn has to do with my situation." I replied. If he thought I was going to back him up just because he gave me the suit, then he was most defiantly wrong. Sure I appreciated it, but I never asked him for it. I didn't owe anything to him. And sure Osborn was a puzzle piece in the mess that had become my life, but I didn't need Toomes to figure it out.

"I'm calling Mr. H, ta see if he'll give the Ok to ditch you sorry-" Shocker began to say as he threw his hands down on the table and stood up as well, except Electro interrupted him by slamming his fist down on the table and adding his own two cents.

"Stop! What are you doing? Look, I need a cure, but the only way to get what we want is to trust the Doc!" He finished by motioning his right hand towards Otto, who up until this point had been listening to the argument while continuing to eat his steak as though he had predicted this would happen.

"Thank you Electro. Yes gentlemen, and Rhino, we're frustrated, but the arachnid will be crushed." He spoke the words as his claws snaked their way around the table, pushing the others down and back into their seats.

"How? He's long gone." Sandman snapped.

"We simply engineer a situation where Spider-man is forced to play the hero. He'll come, he can't help himself." He eyed everyone of us as he said this. Even though no one could see his actual eyes behind the glasses, I just knew when he finally turned his eyes on me, examining my reaction to all that had happened in such a short amount of time. It took all of my willpower to force myself not to shudder as he stared at me briefly.

"Check please." Otto said, breaking the brief awkward silence.

"O-on the house." The waiter stuttered.

"How very kind of you…and wise." Otto replied with a sinister and somewhat amused smirk.

* * *

Otto's great idea of an "engineered situation where we force Spider-man to play the hero" was robbing a bank and taking hostages.

"How _original_," I mused aloud to myself. "Not like anyone's never done that before."

Breaking in had been easy. Blocking off the exits and knocking out the guards had been child's play. But I wasn't overly thrilled when Otto gave me the job of watching over the hostages.

I had long gotten used to the frightened stares, the questioning looks, and the downright freaked out faces people often gave me when they saw me. But the looks that they were giving me now were more like a mix between fear and absolute hatred. It just felt _wrong_. Like I was pure evil, a creature that had walked right out of the depths of hell itself. I must've looked that way to them, and I felt like it too. Before I had only gone after Spider-man, but this was the first time I had harmed civilians; people who had nothing to do with me. These were people who were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time; just as I was on the night I was kidnapped.

"_You're hurting people, that's what makes your choice wrong!" _Spider-man's words echoed in the back of my head. During our first fight I was so sure that what I was doing was right, that it would make everything okay again. I was a fool then to believe that. But what about now? Why was I doing what I was doing now? For acceptance in the Sinister Seven? Not really. Was it to fulfill my original mission and go back to normal? Nope, I had already given up that hope and I knew that it wasn't ever going to happen even if I did succeed in killing Spider-man. Then why am I doing _this_? Is it because I really have nothing left? Is this what I've become? Some criminal who inflicts the same pain and misery to others because some wrong was done to me? Do I just take orders now and do as I'm told?

"He's back boys!" Vulture's shouts reached my ears, derailing my train of thought and pulling me back to my 'job' at hand. Taking to the sky, I left the hostages and flew to where Vulture and the others had gathered only to see them already beating up our target. And judging by the surrounding broken windows and a few blown up and smoking cars, we were winning again.

"Well doc, you wuz right. Guess some folk are just too dumb to live." Shocker admitted as he and the rest of the group gathered around Otto; Spider-man firmly in his claw's grasp.

"Rhino, you won the coin toss. Will you crush his skull or simply impale his heart on your horn?" Otto asked Rhino while holding Spider-man by his arms and legs.

"Impale. Impale sounds good." Rhino choose. "What's the matter web-creep? Too scared to crack a last joke?" And then he began to charge.

Two webs whipped out of Spider-man's arms and slapped Rhino's eyes, momentarily blinding him as he covered his face and cried out. But the webs did stop there, they whipped back and began to attack Otto as well.

"I'll finish him!" Electo shouted as he ran forward and zapped Spider-man, only for his electricity to zap both Spider-man and Otto, sending them flying backwards. "Oops."

"Nice going." Sandman snapped at him as he and the rest of us raced forward to see if Otto was alright.

"Octavious, are you alright?" Toomes asked as he landed next to him.

"I'm fine. Get the bug!" Otto ordered, pointing in the direction that Spider-man had been thrown to.

Still in the air, I took off in search of him. With my claws out, I was ready for anything that he might pull off. If Otto was able to come around that quickly, then there was no reason why Spider-man couldn't either.

I found him before the others did laying face down on a bridge. I landed a few steps away from him, and carefully approached him.

"You alive or not, Spider-man?" I asked as I lightly poked him in the side with my foot. Webbing instantly shot up and yanked my legs out from under me, happening so fast that there was no time to prepare for the harsh landing on my side. "I'll take that as a yes!" I snapped through gritted teeth as I tried to give him a good slash with my claws, only for the webbing to cover my hands and rip me up of the ground. I hung there in midair by my hands as I struggled to break free. I didn't remember his webbing being so thick, or black for that matter.

He slowly got up without saying a word, and his webbing continued to keep me suspended just above the ground. And then he did what I never thought he'd ever do, his webbing extended so that I was just over the bridge and high off the ground. The look in his eyes told me that he was threatening to drop me.

"Let me go!" I shouted as I struggled and tried to cut my claws through the webbing. Yes, it was a stupid thing to shout, but it was the first thing that came to my panicking mind. Without saying anything, he let the webbing go and I was sent soaring towards the concrete below.

Noticing that the webbing was weaker now that it wasn't attached to its original source, I finally managed to rip through it and open my wings in time to slow my descent. Hitting the button in my glove, I tucked my wings in again and rocketed up past the bridge and Spider-man and then up high over the trees.

"I found him! He's over here!" I shouted into the night, hoping that the others would see. I was suddenly jerked back towards the ground though, as Spider-man had attached webbing to the backs of my wings. Twisting myself around, I threw all twenty claws on my fingers and toes at him. This got him to let go of the webbing on my wings and to get him to stop pulling me down. And in order to buy some time for the others to get here, I shot every claw at him as soon as they grew back.

* * *

It took a few minutes for everyone to get to our location, but I was thankful for the backup when it came. Otto had been right about us not being able to handle him singlehandedly.

As Shocker blasted at him, knocking him off the bridge, he ended up pulling Otto down with him as he fell. And instead of giving Spider-man a good, hard, sandy punch as he fell, Sandman ended up breaking Otto's fall. Although the force of being knocked through a solid mass of sand had seemed to knock Otto out for the time being.

"I'm going to fry you for that!" Electro growled as he managed to land a lucky hit on Spider-man's shoulder. But before Electro could hit him again, Spider-man shot two webs at both he and Shocker and pulled; knocking them into what remained of the guardrail and leaving them temporarily knocked out. Before he could get back to his feet, Sandman, who had finally rearranged himself, punched the masked hero through one of many pillars that supported the bridge.

"Dragon, stay by the opening!" Toomes ordered as he swooped down under the bridge to test his luck in attacking Spider-man.

I did as I was told, instead of going to see if Electro and Shocker were okay. I floated just above the entrance and just high enough that if he came out that I would be able to swoop in and probably land a good hit on him. I was also close enough to the entrance to see what was happening as both Sandman and Vulture struggled in their fight. And I also saw when Spider-man jumped to the bottom of the bridge.

"Rhino, he's right where you're standing!" I exclaimed. Rhino punched his fists into the bridge directly below his feet and then pulled up a chunk of bridge where Spider-man was hanging on. He then threw the chunk right in my direction!

Ducking out of the way, I prepared my claws and once there was a clear view of the masked hero I shot a hand full of claws. What I hadn't expected for him to do though, was attach webbing to the guardrail of the bridge and pull himself and the chunk of bridge back at me and Rhino with scary speed. As he closed in on my location, I shot more claws blindly at him, hoping that I would get lucky and they would hit him, and folded my wings in and dove for safety as quickly as I could. Although I wasn't successful in hitting him this time, I did manage to get out of the way before Rhino smashed through the cement chunk of the bridge.

Spider-man jumped from the section of bridge in time to avoid begging injured at the last possible second though. While he still had his attention focused on Rhino and what he would do next, I took advantage of the moment and dove towards him, digging the claws in my feet into his shoulder and yanking him off the ground. Once I was sure I had him in my grasp I took off towards the night sky and, when I felt I was high enough to do some real damage, I flipped so that we were spiraling towards the ground. With mere seconds before impact, I tossed him towards the ground ahead of me and twisted myself so that I could direct myself off in the distance instead of crashing into the ground as well. I had built so much speed that I would need to loop around again to come back down to normal speed.

While I was doing another loop to slow myself down, I suddenly heard a familiar indescribable sound that could only be associated with Shocker's shockwave producing gauntlets. Simple logic told me that my attempted attack had failed as he had somehow either managed to avoid direct impact with the ground in some creative way or he had taken the fall and was back on his feet faster than I expected him to be.

I flew back in time to see Spider-man flip backwards and dodge both Shocker's and Electro's combined blasts. In the middle of a flip, he shot webbing at their hands and then, taking advantage of the moment, shot webbing at their feet as well and pulled out their feet from under them.

"Cut us loose!" Electro shouted as he struggled to rip the webbing from his hands. Deciding to lend a helping claw, I swooped down and landed next to them in order to help cut the sickly black threads and free their hands.

"That's it!" Rhino, who had been off to the side to avoid being blasted moments ago, shouted as he charged forward for a new attempt at an attack. Spider-man easily dodged the attack, and he also managed to cover Rhino's face in webbing. And while he was blinded by the webbing, Shocker and Electro had finally managed to get back on their feet and were getting ready to try and zap the bug again.

"Wait! Don't-" I shouted, realizing what was about to happen, only to be too late as they ended up zapping Rhino instead.

"Aw man!" Electro sighed as he stopped firing electricity at Rhino.

"Dangit!" Shocker snapped as Rhino stood there in a daze with Spider-man behind him and using him as a human shield. "Keep shooting!" He ordered as he sent another shockwave in the direction. "Move in kids, I've got you covered." He ordered Electro and me.

Electro and I exchanged looks briefly, and with that I took to the sky again and he used his electricity to sneak behind Rhino and Spider-man. But before Electro could zap the web-head, he hurled Rhino at him and pinned him to the ground.

"Get him off! Get him off!" Electro shouted. Spider-man shot another web and swung off the bridge and away from Shocker's blasts.

"Oh no you don't!" I snapped as I swooped in and cut the webbing with my claws. The thick webbing managed to rip out three of my claws but I still managed to cut it, sending Spider-man to a sudden crash landing.

"What the heck happened to O'Hirn?" Sandman called as he, Otto, and Vulture finally came back from under the bridge.

"Sandman, help Electro!" Otto ordered.

"Get him off!" Electro shouted as he began to panic. But as Flint went to help, Electro's powers flared which didn't allow anyone near him.

"I'm tryin'! Just turn down the juice!" Sandman snapped as he took two steps back to avoid taking the full blast of electricity.

"Wait! He's trying to escape again!" Vulture called as he swooped down towards Spider-man, who was struggling to open another sewer opening. Getting lucky, he managed to knock Spider-man off balance and too the ground.

"Vulture move! I don't want to have ta take out another of our own!" Shocker shouted as he aimed one of his gauntlets. Taking the warning, Vulture took to the skies again, only for Spider man to dodge Shocker's blast and fling himself onto Vulture's back.

"No! Stop! I won't – Ah!" Vulture shouted as Spider-man tore the circuitry that kept him in control of his flight, knocking him out in the process. Spider-man shot webbing out in front of him in order to catch Vulture, and once ensnared in the webbing, Spider-man took one of Vulture's blades that he had on his feet.

Quickly jumping back before Shocker's next blast could hit him, Spider-man threw the blade and sliced into one of Shocker's gauntlets. "What in the blue he-" Shocker shouted in frustration.

Sandman ran up behind Spider-man as he landed on the ground; ready to punch him. But Shocker also turned around and shot a shockwave with his remaining gauntlet, which ripped a hole through Sandman. Spider-man, who was now behind Sandman, shot webbing through the opening and pulled Shocker's bad gauntlet right into Sandman; which disrupted Sandman's form and turned him back into loose sand momentarily.

"Dodge this!" Shocker shouted as he punched Spider-man with his only remaining gauntlet. The gauntlet blew up though, sending Spider-man and Shocker flying backwards.

Taking advantage of the moment where Spider-man hit the ground, I swooped in and shot several of my claws at him. Sensing the incoming danger though, he rolled out of the way of the incoming claws and jumped back to his feet as quickly as he could. As I flew past him, preparing to do a sharp turn and try again, he webbed up my feet and flung me to the ground.

I let out a cry of pain and I was slammed against the ground. But before I could cut myself loose or twist myself around so that I could shoot more claws at point blank, he whipped the webbing so that I was sent flying towards the larger web that had captured Vulture.

"No!" I shouted as I put my hands in front of me, claws extended in the hopes that they would allow me to rip through the webbing instead. No such luck. The sticky webbing seemed to pull me in seconds after I landed on it. I struggled and tried to use my claws to cut it, but Spider-man was faster than I and one step ahead as well. He began to shoot more webbing at me, till I became cocooned in the stuff. The more I struggled the harder the webbing seemed to become.

Deciding that it was useless to continue to stuggle, seeing as there was no hope for me to get out of the web myself or that someone would come and cut me loose, I was defeated for the second time.

* * *

**Authors Note: **

**FINALLY! I'm so sorry for not updating in forever! I have a million excuses, but I know that no one wants to hear them. (To name a few for those who do care (which is probably no one): Midterms, sprained my arm a few weeks ago, got sick again, life in general.) So here's the two fight chapters that I promised. Sorry if they came out crappy, I tend to struggle with fights, but I'm trying to get better as I go along. ^_^' Anyways, hoped you enjoyed these chapters! **

**Note: Chapters 9 and 10 were based off of Episode 11 "Group Therapy". **


	12. Hospital

Chapter 11: Hospital 

Upon waking up my first thoughts were that I'd had better days, and this was not going to be one of them. My reasons for this were many, but the main reason was the obvious metallic wrappings around my hands and knees. The ones on my hands were like gloves and still allowed me to move and bend my fingers, though they cost me the use of my claws. It was the same with the ones on my feet.

Thinking that it might be a possibility to use my claws to break through them, I extend my claws in an attempt to pierce the metal. I stopped once I felt the sharp pain it caused me when my nails were forced back into my skin due to the lack of space available for them in the gloves, its feeling was equivalent to stubbing my toes and fingers. The end result of my attempt to break free of the metallic coverings was that it left me with very sore hands and feet.

The second reasoning was that I had awoken in a small cell in some prison, but instead of the old orange prison jumpsuit I was wearing a hospital gown. Thankfully it was one that covered my back and went down past my knees. The florescent lighting was nearly blinding against the pure white walls and white sheets on the far too stiff box spring mattress, though in comparison to my old metal bench I wasn't complaining too much about it. And, because the gloves basically robbed me of my power and strength, they didn't see the need to have the four layers of metal bars and plastic layers against the one wall that opened out into the hallway; instead I had a regular set of bars like the rest of the cells in the strange prison.

Letting my curiosity get the better of me, I walked to the edge of the cell and leaned against the bars and peered down the hall and into the surrounding cells. The cell directly across from me was empty at the moment but, judging by the messed up looking bed sheets, someone did occupy it at some point during the day. In the cell across the hall and to the left, a young boy sat curled up at the edge of his bed and he rocked himself as he hugged his knees. Trying not to hear his frightened whisperings with my advanced hearing, I turned all of my attention to the cell across the hall and to the right.

A young girl, probably a year or two younger than myself, with a disheveled mop of brown hair stood against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest. She was, like me, dressed in a hospital gown and happened to have little hospital booties on her feet. She was staring at me with scrutinizing blue eyes.

"Hey, any idea what prison this is?" I asked, knowing that this couldn't be Rykers. Instead of replying to my question though, the girl stared at me once more and then, with a rather creepy smile, put one finger to her lips in a shushing motion.

Confused I was about to ask her again, but somewhere down the hall I heard a metallic door open and close after several people entered. The girl across the hallway quickly retreated toward the far wall where her bed was. Seeing as she had the most experience in this place, I decided to follow her example and backed away from the cell bars. Listening closely I could hear someone in a pair of high heels quickly approaching.

It wasn't long before a woman in a white doctor's coat came into view. She was relatively tall with sleek, shiny black hair that didn't quite reach her chin. She was followed by two burly looking men who were decked out in green nurses outfits. The men didn't intimidate me though, it was the woman who put me on edge. I tried to remain as stolid as I could in order to hide my mixed feelings of curiosity, confusion and almost instant anxiety; for the woman's coal colored eyes seemed to dive into the depths of my soul and poke around at it.

"Ah, it's good to see that you're awake, you've been asleep for some time now. I am Doctor Kafka, main psychologist and founder of Ravenscroft Institute. Can you tell me your name?" The woman said, as though she had rehearsed the introduction several times.

I hesitated a moment before answering, "Dragon. Just call me Dragon." A part of me had wanted to say "Bridget Hunter", but that person was long gone; lost to a kidnapping and a fiery liquid. I am Dragon Girl, and I'd be lying to myself if I said otherwise.

Judging by the way her eyes lost their spark, it wasn't the answer Dr. Kafka was looking for. "Really now, are you sure it isn't Bridget? It's who you once claimed to be. Not sure anymore? It's alright; we'll have plenty of time to work on that. Do you know why you're here at Ravenscroft?" Her tone was one that someone might use when speaking to a frightened child, overly soft and sounding forced.

"No idea, so why not tell me, or are we going to have plenty of time to work on that as well?" I snapped back, my voice defensive and heavy with sarcasm. I was liking this woman less and less with every word she spoke, and I especially didn't like the way her tone sounded.

As if taking no notice of my slowly escalating annoyance with her, she continued to talk in the same fake tone. "You are here to work on correcting your…disreputable behavior," she briefly paused to find the right word. "Here at Ravenscroft, we take in many who have been a danger towards society and help them work through their problems. So that way, when they're ready to leave here, they can coexist with others and not revert to their previous malevolent ways. Do you understand?"

"Yes I understand what it is you do here, but what I don't understand is why I'm here. I'll admit that I've done some things that are frowned upon by society, but I don't' think it warrants me to go to a psychiatric hospital."

"Bridget, you need to –"

"_Dragon_." I insisted, becoming further annoyed at her persistence in using my previous name.

"I hope you understand that we are offering you help here at Ravenscroft. To accept or reject that help is entirely up to you Bridget."

"And if I reject it? What happens then?" I asked, trying to figure out what my options really were.

"Then you'll be sent back to your old cell at Rykers. This choice would greatly sadden me because I see potential in you Bridget. It's not too late for you, you can still have a normal life like everyone else here."

"That last part is a lie and I would prefer that you not make such ridiculously false promises to me. I already know that I'll never be accepted as I am." I replied, the memory of my mother's rejection replaying in my head. I knew better than she did; after all I was the one stuck looking like this, not her. What could she possibly know about anything I was going through?

"Yes, there will be people who will judge and discriminate against you, but we can teach you how to get past that if you just give us the chance to help you. You can rebuild what you once had. The choice is yours though Bridget: accept the help you're being offered or figure it out alone back in Rykers."

I opened my mouth to tell her off for continuing to call me "Bridget", but decided against it. The offer was tempting and I found myself in a conflict with myself. The old, weaker part of me was still begging for what was offered, a new fresh start at a new somewhat-difficult-but-normal life. While the darker, newer, tougher part of me was weary of what was really being said and offered here. Was this really the answer to my old prayers or was this another empty promise that would come back to kick me in the ass? I knew there was no way I would ever be 'normal' ever again, the childish hope had been vanquished long ago. But was it possible to start over again and rebuild what I had been robbed of with almost no strings attached? No hunting down and trying to kill someone for it? No fighting in order to claim it as my own? It all sounded far too good to be true, but that part of me, that person I once was, wanted to trust and believe in it so badly.

"Yes,…I want to try." I found myself speaking the words. When I looked back up at her face there was a small victorious smile upon her lips and her eyes were bright and hopeful.

* * *

The cafeteria was a brightly lit white walled room with numerous rectangular tables. There were about two tables filled up with juvenile delinquents, this included the girl from across the hall. There were also numerous other tables filled with men and quite a few women of varying ages as well.

And it wasn't difficult to spot Otto and Electro either. They were seated at one of the ends of the table at the far right of the room. They were the only two on that end of the table, since the other's sat at the opposite end and left them plenty of room.

My first instinct was to sit with them, but I hesitated for a moment; debating if I should bother sitting with them or try to meet and introduce myself to the other teenagers. The girl from earlier seemed friendly enough, although she hadn't spoken a word to me yet. And, anyways, what did I get out of being with the Sinister Seven members anyway? I barely knew Electro and doubted very much that Otto cared about my personal feelings either.

And while this was the perfect opportunity to break away from them and what my life had become and take the first steps towards my "new beginning", I didn't. I found myself going to sit with them anyways. Why? Because if this therapy crap didn't work out I still had something to fall onto, I wouldn't be left with nothing again. The Sinister Seven gave my existence some sort of purpose; good, bad, or otherwise, they were my safety net.

"Didn't expect to see you here Dragon." Electro said as I took a seat to his left, sitting next to him was probably better than sitting next to Otto.

"Surprised to see you both as well. I take it that Sandman, Rhino, Vulture, and Shocker all ended back up in Rykers then. " I replied, picking out the croutons in the salad they had given me. Otto seemed to be done with his while Electro didn't have a tray in front of him.

"Yes, the rest of the Seven are all back behind bars thanks to that web-swinging menace." Otto replied bitterly.

"So, did Dr. Kafka give you that crap about a normal life too?" I asked, trying to start up a different conversation.

"Same pleading spiel as last time; 'Let me help you Max, we can work on rebuilding your old life.' Give me a break. She says a lot of things, but it doesn't mean anything. Her therapy didn't work last time, so why should it work the second time around, right Doc?" Electro replied.

'_So this is where Electro was before the prison break,_' I thought to myself as Otto agreed. _'If it didn't work for him, then why would it work for me? I can't believe how stupid I've been to actually believe that load of crap about rebuilding a normal life! I must've hit my head hard during that fight…'_

"So is there any elaborate plan to break out of this place?" I finally asked.

"There is word on the street that a man called 'The Master Planner' is starting up an underground criminal organization. Apparently he's hiring people like drug dealers, thugs, construction workers, and others. He might hire us if we can get in touch with one of his men, which shouldn't be too hard." Electro replied.

"Do you know if this 'Master Planner' has any connection to the 'Big Man'?" I asked. I sure as hell hadn't forgotten about my plans to get revenge on him and Hammerhead and, as soon as I found out how he was involved, Norman Osborn as well. Now that I thought of it, maybe they were the ones who I really should be fighting against; not wasting my time trying to battle it out with Spider-man. Could it be that my time and energy were simply directed at the wrong person?

"I've heard that the 'Big Man' isn't too happy with this guy's appearance, since he is competition after all. Why do you want to know anyways?" Electro replied.

"The 'Big Man' was the one who, let's just say, made her the way she is now. I'm beginning to wonder if you still have any ties to that organization of his." Otto replied.

'_No,_' I thought to myself. '_You're the one who made me this way, he's the one who ordered you to.' _I didn't dare speak my thoughts though, I knew better than to push Otto's buttons.

"You of all people should know that I don't Otto. And the way I look at it is why not kill two birds with one stone, if the 'Master Planner' does hire us then I can get revenge on the 'Big Man' and get out of his nut house." I replied carefully. Maybe they weren't just my safety net. They could also provide the information I needed to find out who the 'Big Man' was and what he was up too. After all, it was on his orders that my life was flipped upside-down and I still want to personally pay him back the favor.

"I like the way you think, Dragon. Maybe he'll give us the chance to kill the spider freak too." Electro replied.

"Mmhmm." I replied with a nod of my head.

If it was Electro's desire to continue to fight Spider-man then I had no problem with that, but he no longer interested me. In fact, there would only be a problem between us if he tried to get in my way. I finally had a goal set for myself, get rid of the 'Big Man' and set things right again. This wasn't some order that someone else had given me, I wasn't going to do this for anyone else but myself. I wasn't someone's tool, something they could throw aside when they no longer had any use for me.

And sure that weaker part of me had resurfaced, it was always there and will always continue to be there, but the person I've become, that tougher me, that will always be a part of me too. I was beginning to understand that now. There is no getting rid of either of them, and only time would tell which of my shoulder angels and devils would rise victorious in my life.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Hello everyone, I know it's been awhile since I posted a chapter but I think my old message made it pretty clear why it's taken me so long to get this chapter up. (My computer crashed and I lost all of my written files for those of you who don't know.) **

**Now I tried to rewrite this chapter to be better than it was, and I think I accomplished that. I know this chapter went a little slow, but it was necessary. Also I wanted to apologize if Dr. Kafka seemed a little OOC, but it's been forever since I saw the 90's cartoon she was in and marvel wiki had absolutely nothing about her. So I kind of wrote her as she was in the few episodes she appeared in. ^^' I hoped you all liked it anyways and I look forward to seeing you all when chapter 12 comes out! **


	13. Plans

Chapter 12: Plans 

"That's very encouraging news Cletus, but it was Max's turn to speak." Dr. Kafka replied as Cletus finally stopped blabbering about himself.

"Electro, Doc, Electro. I don't need a regular name no more, right Dr. Octopus?" Electro replied as he leaned forward in his seat. I rolled my eyes a bit at this; we went through this during every single therapy session and it still got us nowhere. Electro and I could correct her a thousand times and she would still call us by our _other_ names.

"I-I beg you not to call me that. I despise everything associated with that name, the criminal activity and the want for violence." Otto replied.

Weeks had passed since my first day and there had been almost no change; in myself at least. I was still the same unhappy camper that I was when I arrived. Otto, on the other hand, had gone back to that weak, helpless, backboneless looser he was before he became Dr. Octopus. I guess it was good to see that Dr. Kafka's therapy worked on _someone_.

"Otto, your progress is nothing short of amazing." Dr. Kafka said as she patted him on the shoulder.

"At least Dragon understands." Electro remarked. I nodded my head to show my agreement. The good news was that Electro did manage to get in touch with one of the 'Master Planner's' people. The man did hire us, saying that it didn't hurt to have a little extra mussel. I honestly didn't care what kind of work he had me doing, so long as I got out of this nut house. Also, it would give me the opportunity to start planning my revenge.

"If you don't have anything to talk about today Electro, then maybe Bridget would like to add something to the discussion today?" Dr. Kafka asked.

"No. I, Dragon, do not have anything to add to this therapy session." I replied, not bothering to hide the annoyance in my tone. I was tired; tired of talking, tired of correcting her, tired of her talking down to me, and tired of getting nowhere. This was a waste of my time.

She held eye contact with me for a moment before turning her attention to one of the other members of our therapy circle. Her eyes couldn't read me so easily anymore. I smiled slightly to myself at the small, meaningless victory over her.

Suddenly I began to hear the sound of breaking bricks. One of the barred windows was being ripped out of the wall from something, or someone, on the outside. Next thing I knew, a large man covered in muddy brown fur was knocking out the Ravenscroft guards.

"Dr. Octopus I presume." The man asked as he walked towards Otto.

"N-no no no no no! Leave me alone!" Otto squeaked in reply as he hid behind Dr. Kafka.

"Keep your paws off him!" She snapped at the intruder, sounding braver than I knew her to be.

"You misunderstand Doctor, Kraven is here to liberate you, Electro, and Dragon." The man replied.

"Forget it. I used to worship the Doc, but what's left of him isn't worth the trouble." Electro said as he held his arms out to Kraven. Taking his own claws, Kraven ripped through the metal locks that kept Electro's powers suppressed.

"Much better." Electro remarked as he took his gloves and mask off, sending waves of electricity off of his skin.

I stepped up next and held my arms out as Electro had done. These metal gloves stole my strength away, and I couldn't wait to be freed from them. Kraven, taking his claws once more, ripped through the metal gloves on my hands. Stretching my own claws to their full length for the first time in weeks, I took my own claws and freed my legs on my own. My claws couldn't break them from the inside, but ripping them off from the outside was a different story. Electro was right, it did feel much better.

"Let's blow this stand." Electro said as he began to walk towards the gaping hole in the wall, eager to get out of here.

"Please Max, you don't have to –" Dr. Kafka started as she stepped towards him, but Electro turned around and shot electricity at her.

"I told you its Electro." He replied before leaping from the building into the cold winter air. Kraven left next and I was about to follow before she spoke again.

"B-bridget wait!" She struggled to say as Otto tried to help her up.

"I can do better than just wasting away here." I replied as I jumped from the window into the freezing air of this winter's night. Using my claws, I dug them into the wall to slow my descent. "Where are we going?" I asked Kraven.

"Just follow Kraven." He replied in a low growl as he took off down the street.

* * *

"You're late Kraven." A man in a lab coat replied was we entered the building. I could tell that he was much older than the rest of us because his hair was a very light grey color. Though I wasn't too interested in his appearance; my focus was on the familiar green and black suit in his arms.

"There was trouble. Dr. Octopus did not wish to come with us." Kraven replied.

"That's obvious since he isn't accompanying you." He replied before turning his attention to me and addressing me for the first time. "I was told to give this to you Dragon. You can change later." At this he tossed the suit at me.

"I assume you have the power pack for it as well." I replied after catching it, now noticing its absence.

"Vulture has it at the current moment." He replied. "Now, let's go meet the others. I expect that they grow tired of waiting."

He led us to another door, which slid open to reveal a room that was stacked with multiple parts of machinery. There were several monitor screens against one of the walls as well. And, the rest of the seven plus one other guy who I did not know were standing inside.

"Most of you have met, but Kraven, Electro, and Dragon, this is Rhino, Vulture, Sandman, and Mysterio." The man said as he introduced us to the group. With that, the three of us took our places amongst the group. Out of the old habit, I decided to stand by Sandman and Rhino. Electro stood a few steps behind me and Kraven decided to stand in the middle of him and Sandman.

"Mmhph." Sandman grumbled as Kraven walked by him.

Hearing this, Kraven let out a small growl before speaking to him. "Is there problem?"

"I've had bad experiences with cats." Sandman replied.

The man in the coat cleared his throat to gather everyone's attention before speaking. "Gentlemen, I'd like to introduce our host and benefactor, the Master Planner." He said as he presented the screen.

A dark and blurry image appeared on the screens, and he spoke in a dark voice that I knew was being masked with technology. "Tinkerer informs me that Dr. Octopus declined my invitation. This is, disappointing. I had so hoped to inaugurate the Sinister Eight."

"Four…five…Don't we got eight? What about this guy?" Rhino said after taking a moment to count on his fingers.

"Strictly technical support. Trust me; he is useless in a fight." Mysterio replied.

"No matter, a new Sinister Seven will suffice." The Master Planner continued.

"Suffice for what exactly?" Vulture asked.

"To help me inaugurate the age of the super criminal. This is your time my friends, once you dispose of a certain red and blue plaid pest."

"Ah, excuse me." Sandman interrupted. "How exactly is a new seven supposed ta fare any better than the old one?"

"Unsurprisingly, I have a plan." The Master Planner replied. "Instead of attacking him as a group like you have previously, you will attack in pairs. This will wear him down and allow at least one of you to permanently take care of the pest. Team One shall be Vulture and Electro, Sandman and Rhino will make up Team Two, and Team Three is Kraven and Mysterio. Dragon is in charge of bringing the members of the defeated teams back to the lair. Any questions?"

"Yeah, why doesn't Dragon get to fight?" Rhino asked.

"Because I am not confident in her fighting abilities. I strongly recommend that she avoid fighting with Spider-man and the police unless it cannot be absolutely avoided or I order otherwise." The Master Planner replied.

"Understood." I replied as I clenched my fists to look as though I was frustrated with the plan. I was actually secretly pleased that I wasn't going to be fighting Spidy again. It wasn't in my interests and I really had no desire to fight with him again either. The job given to me was more up my alley anyways. But I didn't want the others to think I was week or anything, so I pretended that I wasn't too thrilled to be left out of the action.

"Good. You attack at nightfall." The Master Planner said before the screen clicked off.

"Seeing that you all begin the operation in the evening; you may rest up or attend to other matters in the meantime." Tinkerer said shortly after the Master Planner finished speaking. Tinkerer then explained were everything was located in the lair and which hallways to take to get to certain rooms. Everyone split off to do what they wished. Some went off to get coffee and others went off to do other things. I took this time to get my pack from Vulture.

"Vulture!" I called as I finally caught up with him, he had flown off to a different room to get coffee. "I was told that you still had the power pack to my suit."

"Yes, I just recently finished its repairs. I left it over by the generator in the main room, you can get it yourself." He replied.

"Thanks." I replied, trying to sound more respectful and grateful than annoyed. He was the only one who could make and repair it; it wouldn't do me well to get on his bad side.

At least the pack was where he said it would be. Picking it up, I took it and the suit into the woman's bathroom. It was small and located at the end of one of the many hallways that branched off of the main room. It contained one toilet, one sink, a small trash can and one mirror.

I put the pack on the suit, making sure that all the wires were connected and such before zippering into its compartment on the back. From there I changed into the familiar suit, happy that it still fit. I took a look in the mirror to make sure that the pack was sitting right on my back, not lopsided or anything. I didn't want it to throw me off balance when I was flying.

And while everything on the suit seemed fine, I couldn't help but notice that my reflection had changed since the last time I saw it; which was in the hotel mirror when I had broken out of Rykers. My hair, though it was still the same bright red it always ways, reminded me less of my old human appearance. Though it was the only common link with my old and new self, it really emphasized my monsterish appearance now. My eyes, still the same red slits, no longer held that spark they once carried. They were dull and tired looking. My skin was still grey and my scales were not nearly as white and unhealthy looking as they were in Rykers either. And although I was skinny, I was not as toothpick like as I had been in Rykers either.

Back when I first saw what the experiment had changed me into I thought that I looked like a defective and ugly Chinese dragon; a monster who would wasn't even accepted by their own mother. When I had broken out of Rykers I thought that I looked like an evil creature that had walked straight out of hell itself; hurting those who stood in my way and teaming up with others who were out for blood. And now, I don't even know. I wanted to get revenge on the Big Man and Oscorp, but I wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do or if I was going down the right path to get there anymore. Funny how one's reflection can show so much more than just one's appearance.

Trying to cast away my thoughts and bring myself back to the here and now, I tossed the hospital gown into the trash can and left the bathroom to go and join the rest of the Seven in the main room.

"You know, I'm actually surprised to see you here." Flit said as I rounded a corner in one of the halls. He was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Why does it surprise you?" I asked in return, my tone calm and sounding uncaring.

"You weren't too interested in fighting Spider-man last time, and I don't think you're too upset with being left out of the fighting this time, so why bother signing up for round two?" He replied very directly.

Since when did Flint care what I did with my life? He was still here; a part of the Seven. If he had wanted out, he could have easily left and no one would've cared. And when did he start noticing my feelings for things? I held eye contact with him for a moment before answering him.

"If you really must know, I'm here to get _my_ Big Score; revenge on the Big Man and Oscorp." I replied. He stared at me for a moment longer and then seemed satisfied with my answer.

"Just be careful. This isn't like the old Seven, if you mess up or something, our boss isn't going to take too well to it." He warned, as if he actually cared or saw me as a friend. But I still couldn't trust him or consider him a friend, even if I wanted to.

"Thanks, but I can take care of myself." I replied before walking past him. Why did he care if I screwed up or got myself into trouble? I don't see how it would affect him in anyway.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Sorry this took me forever to write! I was getting frustrated with writer's block and just staring at paper and trying to write, so I decided to go with what I already had as far as my rough draft for this chapter went. Its kind of a filler chapter, but its necessary for what's coming up in the next few chapters. Sorry if it's crappy ^-^'. **


	14. Reinforcements

Chapter 13: Reinforcements

Flying high over the skating rink, I decided to land on one of the roofs that was far enough away, but still allowed me to see the events of the fight when they broke out.

"He's not here." Vulture's voice sounded through my head piece. Tinkerer had supplied us all with small radio's to communicate with.

"Gah, he's here, I smell him." Kraven's voice growled in return.

"Team one deploy. That will lure the do gooder out into the open." The Master Planer's voice ordered.

"Way ahead of you." Electro's voice replied. A bright flash of electricity erupted out on the ice, sending a large cloud of steam up into the air as the ice skaters ran away in alarm. "Spider-man, come out to play!" Electro called as the steam from the rapidly evaporated water began to calm down, revealing himself from its mist. "Show yourself, you wall crawling –" He continued to shout, before being interrupted.

"Naw, naw, atch the mouttt, here are hildren hesent!" Spider-man called as he cast a web at Electro.

"What?" Electro and I said in near unison. I adjusted my headset since what I had heard sounded like a bunch of mumbling.

"Ie blun myh tongue, ohay." Spider-man replied.

'_That explains the weird speech pattern_', I thought to myself as Electro ripped the webbing off himself and sent several bursts of electricity at Spider-man. While Spider-man was occupied with dodging Electro's electricity, Vulture took advantage of the fact that his focus was elsewhere and gave him a good kick in the ribs, sending him flying towards the ground. In response to being kicked, Spider-man said something to Vulture that neither I nor Vulture were able to decipher. But, where he had managed to land safely onto the ice without harm, he still wasn't paying Electro and Vulture his full attention and ended up taking a hit from Electro because of it.

"Hey Vulch, you notice? Big hero doesn't seem too focused on us." Electro said after that last hit.

"Why you're right. It's almost as if he expects more company! Hahahah!" Vulture replied as he swooped over the civilians, scaring them and sending them scrambling for safety. Electro, joining in on tormenting the civilians, electrified the ice; shocking all who stood on it. I wanted to yell at him to stop through the headset, but didn't need to because Spider-man forced him to stop by shooting webbing at Electro's feet and pulling them out from under him.

"Come on guys, less plah follow ha leader!" Spider-man shouted as he swung to a nearby building.

"Let's not!" Vulture replied as he dived towards the civilians again.

Seeing that he couldn't lure them away, Spider-man decided to shoot small shots of webbing at Vulture instead. Vulture dogged most of the shots, diving and swerving out of their path, but one managed to just tap the side of his headgear.

"No!" I heard Vulture mumble through the radio system as he put a hand there to make sure no damage was done. But Spider-man noticed this and, jumping onto the top of the Christmas tree, shot a web directly at his headgear. "I said, No!" Vulture shouted as he twisted out of the webbing; giving Spider-man a clear shot of his wings. Within seconds Vulture was cocooned in thick webbing and being thrown into the tree as well.

"Hu know, for an evil hold nog hu make a wuvly autament." Spider-man remarked as he finished tying Vulture to the tree.

"Don't worry Vulch, Electro's got your back!" Electro said, preparing to shoot electricity at him.

"No you fool! I'll be free in a moment!" Vulture shouted, predicting what he was about to do.

"Electro! Don't, you'll –" I started to yell through the headset, but it was too little too late. He had already attacked, giving Vulture a nasty shock and setting the tree o fire.

In addition to shocking Vulture, Electro's electricity also overloaded the headsets; causing a very loud ringing. Giving a small yelp, I ripped it off the headset and covered my ears; trying to protect them from the dangerous sound. This was one of the times that I cursed my heightened senses.

I continued to watch as the tree fell and Electro and Spider-man's fight continued elsewhere. The problem was that when the tree had fallen, Vulture was now buried somewhere under it. I noticed that the headset wasn't ringing anymore so I put it on again. "Vulture, are you okay?" I asked.

"Of course I'm not, I'm tied up and I'm being crushed between the tree and the ice. Get me out!" He snapped through the radio.

"Begin the first of the extractions." The Master Planner's voice ordered, followed by instructions on how to get to the control room under the ice. I was going to tunnel Vulture out.

I followed his instructions and, amongst all the panic on the ice, I managed to slip in undetected. Upon entering the control room, the first thing I noticed were the hatch doors on the roof. Jumping up and slightly hovering, I opened them all to see where the tree had actually landed. '_He was closer to the top of the tree_.' I thought as I looked at all the shadows above me. Finding the spot where I thought I'd be the closest to him, I took my claws and began to cut circles into the ice. I would have to cut out layers and shed my claws when they became dull, but it wasn't an impossible job. The ice was smooth and quite dry, making it easy for me to cut through it. After a short while I began to think that the cut out layers looked like the layers on a cake.

"You won't escape me that easily!" I heard Electro shout over the radio system. "Is that you're best shot? Feeble!" There were several clunking noises followed by the sounds of Electro firing off electricity. "Eventually, you'll run out of tires, and then I'll – wha? Gah! No! Argh!" Electro shouted.

'_I take it that he defeated Electro_.' I thought to myself and I was right, for seconds later the Master Planner ordered Sandman and Rhino to attack.

"Hey Spidey, don't fade on us now. Sparks and Flapps were just the appetizers." I heard Sandman say.

"Time for the main course." Rhino added. There were sounds of someone hitting someone, and then a car alarm went off.

By this time, I had finished tunneling through the ice and was met with a small shower of pine needles. Lifting the tree slightly, I poked my head out of the hole and saw Vulture all tied up a few inches or so from where I had dug the hole.

"About time." He hissed at me.

Rolling my eyes at him, I reached over and began to cut the webbing with my claws. It wasn't as thick as the back webbing had been the last time we fought Spider-man, in fact, Spider-man wasn't wearing that odd black suit anymore either. I wondered why, but didn't put too much thought into it as I cut Vulture loose.

"You're free, now hurry up and get back to the lair before the police show up." I told him as I went back the way I came.

"I don't take orders from incompetent brats like you." Vulture snapped as he fell into the control room.

"Master Planner's orders, not mine." I replied as I slipped out the door and took off into the night, leaving Vulture behind. It was entirely up to him if he wanted to obey orders or do something stupid. I didn't care either way.

"Electro is located at the Tire Barn a few blocks down." The Master Planner said through my radio. He wasn't the only thing I heard through the radio though.

"Guys! Feliz Navidad, happy Hanukkah, Kwanza, solstice! Can't we put aside our differences for one night?" I heard Spider-man say through Sandman and Rhino's radios.

"Nope." They both replied.

"When I'm done with you, there won't be enough left to stuff my stocking!" Rhino said, followed by a couple of crashing noises.

"Hey Rhino, toss him over. I wanna pull off that mask and see who he is before we end it." I heard Sandman say.

Had they actually won? My question was answered when I heard Spider-man say, "Sorry, I'm strictly a do not unwrap until Christmas morning Superhero."

I didn't focus too much on the radio as I approached the tire barn. Landing a few steps away from Electro, I approached with caution; he was still sending off a lot of electricity and I had no desire to be shocked.

"Electro, cool it. Give me a minute and I'll have you out in no time." I spoke into the radio, just in case he couldn't hear me through the melted tire. When I noticed a change in the amount of electricity, I approached the mound of melted rubber. Taking my claws, I carefully began to cut through the tough material.

"Oh, I'll show you who's beast enough!" I heard Rhino shout through the radio.

"Here, you're gonna need this." I heard Spider-man reply, followed by small crackling sounds.

"I hate you so much." Rhino said before a loud crashing sound followed by static. The static eventually died off, my guess was that his radio either got broken, died, or switched off. I highly doubted the later.

"Thanks Dragon, any idea where that no-good-wall-crawlin'-pest went?" Electro asked as I finally managed to free him.

"The Master Planner's orders were to return to the lair if you're defeated." I replied.

"But I'm not defeated yet!" He snapped back at me, his fists clenched and flaring with stronger electricity.

"Rhino and Sandman are fighting him now." I replied, still calm. I knew that Rhino had been defeated, but I wasn't sure if Electro even paid any attention to what was happening through the radio.

"I can still fight." He insisted.

"Electro, stand down and return." The Master Planner's voice snapped through the radio. He was obviously listening. Seeing that it was up to him to obey or disobey orders, I took off to the sky again. "Team Three move in." Master Planner said, followed by instructions for me on where to find Rhino and Sandman.

"Fool! No prey escapes Kraven. I track smell of your fear to ends of Earth!" I heard Kraven say through the radio followed by Spider-man's reply.

"Big talk for a substitute looser! Ack! Guess the great hunter was afraid to take me on alone this time."

"Is way of jungle, pack wears prey down for alpha male to crush." Kraven growled in return.

At this point I decided to turn my attention back to flying and my own job, since I was flying past the docks and needed to find Rhino and Sandman before the police arrived. Spotting them over by a tree, I landed in the tree next to them.

"You guys okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, but he's not." He replied as he pointed to the frozen solid Sandman.

"Think you can break the ice under his feet? If you can, you could carry him back to the lair where we can defrost him." I replied, keeping an ear out for any police. The fight has carried on long enough, the police should be on their way by now.

"Like this?" Rhino replied as he lifted Sandman straight up, ripping him from the ground and accidently leaving one of his feet behind. "oops." Rhino said as he noticed.

"Maybe he can regenerate it or something. Worst comes to worst he'll be a foot shorter." I replied, masking my concern. I hated the idea of him permanently lousing his foot or something, but I didn't have the time to dig it out of the snow.

"Ah!" I shouted as I took the radio off my ear again. There had been a loud bang followed by more ringing from the radio then. I covered my one ear again in an attempt to get rid of the sudden pain.

"What's wrong?" Rhino asked, completely unaffected.

"I think Mysterio or someone blew something up. It caused something to happen to the radio." I replied through gritted teeth. The pain in my ear was excruciating, the noise from earlier had been far too loud for my ears to handle and the new sound left them in a painful ring. I guess my ears really were _that_ sensitive to it sound.

"I don't hear it." Rhino replied, messing with his radio.

"I don't expect you to hear it. Yours died earlier when you fell into the water, remember?" I replied as I checked the small radio in my hand.

"Oh, right." Rhino replied.

"I think the others are done fighting, so I'm going. See you back at the lair." I said as I put the radio back on and took off. As I did, I heard Mysterio talking to Spider-man again.

"I don't know, you think maybe the Master Planner has a _master plan_?"

"Mysterio and Kraven are located in the mall, several blocks from you. The police are already on the scene, get in and retrieve Kraven, you can leave Mysterio behind. He's already done his part in furthering my plan." The Master Planner ordered through the radio.

"Understood." I replied as I flew towards the mall. On my way there I began to wonder about what Sandman had told me. _"Just be careful. This isn't like the old Seven, if you mess up or something, our boss isn't going to take too well to it." _Was this what he was talking about? That if I failed or wasn't needed anymore, that I would be left behind for the police to deal with? Or possibly left for dead if it came down to it? I always knew that I was nothing to this guy, that I was only a pawn; something that could easily be disposed of if necessary. It was the same with the Big Man and Otto. Not that I cared, I could take care of myself now.

I entered the mall through a smashed window on the roof. Trying to stay out of the watchful eyes of the police, I kept to the shadows and stayed away from where the police were cutting Mysterio free. He was entangled in a large web, suspended from the ground and with his hands and legs tied up in separate knots. Lucky for me, the web blocked the door area, meaning that no one would be near the broken down escalator that led up to the second floor. I had time to get Kraven and run.

Moving over to the area that was covered with webbing and debris, I saw that Kraven was ensnared in webbing similar to the way Mysterio was, except he was webbed to the ground. He was unconscious and obviously not waking up anytime soon.

Taking my claws I made quick work of cutting him loose, but it took me longer to lift him and get him out of the small nook he was in. From there I had to drag him over to the window, which took longer than I would've liked it to because he weighed so much more than he looked. Still keeping an ear out for the police, I zipped up his jacket and then used the claws in my feet to lift him by the collar of the jacket. From there I flew out the window and back out into the night sky.

Carrying Kraven was extremely difficult. His weight dragged me down and I worried that my claws would shed if I turned a corner too quickly. This severely decreased my flight speed, giving any sharp shooting police officer a chance to shoot me down if they happened to spot me. And, because I couldn't fly too high, I was an open target.

Surprisingly though, I didn't run into any problems with the police. I actually made it back to the lair with Kraven without getting caught or running into any problems.

"Welcome back Dragon, you can leave Kraven here." Tinkerer greeted as I flew through the door.

"If there's nothing else that you need me to do, then I'll be in the main room." I said as I placed Kraven down.

"Actually, you do have one more job tonight, you need to defrost Sandman. He's in the main room with the others." Tinkerer said as he handed me a -dryer.

"Great." I said as snatched it out of his hand and I took off down the hall.

"Hey Electro, give me a hand please." I called out to him after a while.

"What do you need me for?" He replied.

"I can't find a single outlet in this place." I replied, handing him the plug to the hair-dryer. I had expected to be able to find at least one free outlet in the room, but they were being used to power the other machines in the room.

Letting out a short sigh of annoyance, Electro took the plug and I began the painstakingly long process of defrosting Flint.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**This was probably the hardest chapter to write so far. I really experimented with this chapter and tried to make it stand out. I really struggled with coming up with an idea for Dragon's role in the Master Planner's plan and it kinda just ended up that she would be the one to get the rest of the villains back to the lair after they were defeated, since we see that Tinkerer wasn't the one to do so. Sorry if it was a pretty crappy idea. :/ **

**Sadly I don't think this chapter came out as well as I would've liked it to though. Sorry about that. As I mentioned in the last chapter, I've been frustrated with writer's block and just I decided to go with what I already had as far as my rough draft for this chapter went. **

**Hope to see you all when the next chapter comes out! **

***Chapters 12 and 13 were based off of episode 16 "Reinforcement"***


	15. Kidnapping

Chapter 14: Kidnapping

"Kraven is not owned by anyone! No one tells Kraven who to hunt! I hunt who I want and when I want!" Kraven snarled at the green screens that produced the shadowy figure that masked the Master Planner's identity from us all. Our boss had just informed him that he along with Sandman and Rhino were being rented out to some lowlife who needed their services. Needless to say, Kraven was not taking this too well; feeling that the Master Planner had come short on what he had promised Kraven and treating him like a 'caged animal' as he put it.

"Seeing that you are so displeased with the opportunities offered to you Kraven, I wonder if it was a mistake to have Dragon waste her energy in bringing you back." The Master Planner said in response.

"You do not own Kraven the Hunter!" He roared before turning his back to the screen and walking past us all to the door. And just like that, Kraven left and no one tried to stop him. I wondered if it was because they didn't want to fight, were glad that he was leaving, simply didn't care, or if he really wasn't all that important to the Master Planner's plan. I even began to wonder if it were _that_ easy to leave, just say I was done and walk out the door. Would anyone try to stop me? Even if they didn't, the question still remained; if I left where would I go and what would I do? I still didn't have the resources or information needed in order to get my revenge yet.

"It is a shame to see Kraven go, but he has proven that he is not worth it. Now, if there are no others who desire to quit, Sandman and Rhino, you are dismissed. Vulture, Electro, and Dragon, you are to remain." He said before the screen clicked and went blank.

* * *

"Welcome to your lair Master Planner." Tinkerer greeted, moving his arm in a sweeping motion and bowing his head to show respect. I couldn't believe _who_ I was seeing enter the room though. When Tinkerer told Vulture, Electro, and I that the Master Planner wished to meet us face to face, I never would've guessed that it was Otto Octavious!

"Thank you, Tinkerer." Otto replied.

"I still don't get it Doc. Why didn't you break out with Kraven, Dragon, and me?" Electro asked, probably having just as hard a time believing who our boss really was.

"Ah, Electro, always so charmingly uncomplicated," Otto mused as he patted Electro on the shoulder. "When building a secret empire of super criminals, the safety and obscurity of a hospital bed has its advantages."

"Beats prison." Vulture agreed.

"Indeed. Spider-man searches for the 'Master Planner' leaving Octavious to, heh heh, plan. I assume, since you sent my arms to retrieve me, we are finally ready to begin." Otto said as he took the clipboard from Tinkerer and began to read its contents.

"Yes, all that remains is calibration and _testing_." Tinkerer replied. The smile Otto gave at this was enough to send shivers down my spine, it took all of my self-control to not involuntarily shiver.

"Excellent. Now, I do believe that Oscorp is demolishing a building today and that Norman Osborn himself will be visiting the site. Why don't we grant our old employer the privilege of being the test subject _this_ time." Otto replied.

"Sounds delightful," Vulture agreed, mirroring Otto's sinister smile.

"Get the generator running then." Otto barked to Tinkerer, who nodded and walked off to the back of the room to mess with one of the larger machines. A few minutes later I heard something click to life and the slow hum of the generator filled the room. Otto turned his attention to the blank screens, focusing on them as if willing them to turn on. And I really tried to hide my surprise when they did flare to life; showing numerous views from security cameras from all over the city.

"Good. Now let's see…there's the detonator, now all I have to do is hack in and change the code." He mumbled more to himself than to anyone else. No one replied or commented though, for no one wanted to disturb his concentration and we were all too busy watching what he was now capable of.

The rest of the screens switched so that the view from one camera was displayed on all of them. The building must've been older than the old Hotel we used when we had first broken out of Rykers; for there were sections of wall missing and the place was rusting from being exposed to the elements. There were people in the camera's view too; Norman Osborn being the easiest one to identify, a worker who was setting up the wiring for the bomb that would bring the place down, and a young teenager.

I knew that Norman Osborn had a son, but there was no resemblance between the two of them. Norman was strict looking, well dressed with nearly perfect posture, sharp facial features, and neat short orange hair. He looked exactly as he was in that car several months ago, except now he wasn't wearing glasses that messed with his facial features.

The teen, on the other hand, was rather wimpy looking, dressed in jeans and hoody, smoother facial features, and an untidy mop of brown hair. Perhaps he was an employee of Oscorp? Or he was indeed his son and they just happened to have no similarities in their appearance, which was also another strong possibility.

A different man came into view on the screen, another well-dressed employee perhaps? Norman spoke a few words to the man and then sent the young teen away. '_Good, at least the kid will be away from the explosion_.' I thought to myself.

"Finished." Otto said just at the kid was leaving. Now the blond worker on the screen was panicking. He was pushing buttons and yelling at Norman Osborn. "Enjoy your last thirty seconds Osborn." Otto said with a large smile.

Unfortunately the smile would not last long, for Spider-man appeared in the camera's view. He webbed up both walls and made a large catapult, which tossed Norman and his works off to safety. They got away, but what about the teenager? Had Spider-man got him to safety too or did he not know about him? Or had the kid made it downstairs before Otto activated the detonator? I highly doubted the later and hoped that by some miracle the teen had gotten to safety.

The screen suddenly flared a bright orange color before going black, but we still saw the building go down from a security camera in the building across the street. When the dust finally cleared, we could clearly see that Spider-man, Osborn, and the rest of the employees were safe, except for the teen who was nowhere in sight. But Norman Osborn did not look too panicked about his absence, perhaps he somehow knew that he had gotten out safely?

'_Stop thinking about it! It's none of your concern! What do you care if the teen got out or not? It has nothing to do with you!' _I mentally yelled at myself. I did care though, and his absence truly bothered me, but I couldn't allow myself to have a conscious now. Although, it was getting harder and harder to convince myself of this.

"Electro go down to Tinkerer, and will you please go examine how our technology held up during the test and adjust it as needed." Otto ordered, his tone sounding demanding and strict again. Without saying anything Electro went off to the main area to work on the machines.

"Well, we tried Adrian." Otto sighed up at the screen shortly after Electro had left.

"Osborn's time will come, as will Spider-man's. Still you must be pleased with the initial test." Vulture replied.

"Quite, just as my neurotransmitter chip allows me to control my arms, I was able to activate the detonation countdown with a thought." Otto replied as his arm went to bring him his coffee.

While Otto and Vulture continued to talk amongst themselves, I turned my attention to the conversation in the other room, after all it was quiet enough in the hideout to hear multiple conversations. "I didn't like the power fluctuations, I want more in reserve." I heard Tinkerer tell Electro from the other room.

"Working on it." Was all Electro said in reply.

"Minor problem, you and Adrian have done a conveyable job assembling the technology Mysterio stole for us." Otto suddenly called down to Tinkerer. It was then that I noticed that the window in Otto's office was open, allowing him to hear their conversation as well. _'So much for being all ninja/spy like…' _I mused to myself at this discovery.

"The brain work was all yours Otto." Vulture replied in a light tone. It was obvious to me that he was kissing Otto's butt, but I wondered why. What did Vulture seek to gain from Otto anyways? He was another one who I had really no clue about.

"Brain work indeed. My brain now has a working wireless connection with nearly every computer in the city. But of course that is only the beginning, in less than twenty four hours the entire world will be at my mercy. Just imagine the possibilities." Otto replied. I did imagine them, and it truly was a scary thought.

"Electro, finish up and report back up here. I need to fill you in on a particular plan." Otto called down to Electro and within five minutes he was back up in the office with the rest of us.

"I require a particular access code in order to gain complete control over the world and further my plans. That is where this man and his daughter come in." Otto replied as the screen displayed a police officer in uniform and a young teen with blond hair. The officer looked somewhat familiar and I wondered if I had seen him back in Rykers.

"Isn't that Captain Stacy?" Electro asked.

"It is, and I need him to give me the access codes from homeland security." Otto replied.

"Why do you need this guy Doc? With your brain you could hack into any place." Electro replied.

"I appreciate the vote of confidence, but the codes are kept in an isolated system. I have no means of access without his help." Otto replied.

"Then how do you plan on making him give you the access codes?" I asked, finally breaking my own silence code, which I would soon regret doing. Seriously, I was the worst villain-for-hire ever; I questioned when I should've just smiled and nodded.

"Through his daughter. I plan on having you kidnap her, that will be enough motive for Captain Stacy to cooperate with me. After all I think it is a good exchange, the access codes for his daughters safe return." Otto replied.

I already hated this plan with all me being. It was bad enough that he was willing to blow away the building with other innocent people inside it while Osborn was there, but now he was planning to kidnap another kid? That's where I drew the line. I wasn't about to let him do what he had done to me to anyone else.

"And if he doesn't cooperate with you?" I questioned, my tone now sounding sharp.

"Then perhaps she may prove useful to us as a lab rat." He replied lightly. My heart sank and my stomach turned at the thought. I just couldn't keep my big mouth shut now; my thoughts were long past the point of controlled. And my conscious that I had kept

"Not to be rude, but don't you think that I'm living proof that when you experiment on teens that it usually doesn't go too well? Her chances of survival of any procedure you put her through is low, but the chances of her actually obeying you in the case that she does survive is zero. Take it from me, it'll never happen."

"And yet here **you** are, following my orders regardless of the fact that _I'm_ the one who gave you your powers." Otto replied, still not bothering to take his eyes off the screen and look at me.

"That's because you were ordered to by Oscorp, which I never listened to in the first place." I replied.

"On the contrary, you did obey their orders and by doing so you fulfilled your purpose to them. You still went looking for Spider-man and you still fought him, no matter how badly you failed at doing so." He replied.

While he was right, I still wasn't going to let him do the same to this girl as he had done to me. "In the end I still turned from them, which means she could do the same to you eventually."

"You are beginning to get on my nerves Dragon. I am your boss and you listen to me, not the other way around. Your sensitivity to the subject is predictable and understandable, but it is not necessary or appreciated in the least. I have already thought this plan through, coming up with every possible outcome and the chances of her father not caring and not coming to her rescue are slim to none." Otto lectured me.

I wanted to continue to fight this, but bit my tongue instead. This was a battle I wasn't going to win and I had no desire to get on Otto's bad side. I needed to keep in mind who I was here, and even that I wasn't sure of.

"So, how will we find her Doc?" Electro asked somewhat awkwardly, after I remained silent for a solid minute or two.

"Isn't it convenient that she has a GPS in her cell phone? It's child's play for me to track her." Otto replied. "Now, when I have her isolated outside the coffee shop she's currently in, Electro will knock her out and hand her off to Vulture, who will be waiting close by. After that, Tinkerer will drive you back to the lair Electro. This should be smooth and simple, are there any questions?"

"And what will I be doing?" I asked, forcing my tone to be calmer and more submissive.

"Seeing as you're against this plan, I'm not risking your personal attachment getting in the way. You are to remain here and help set up the cage for when Vulture returns with our guest."

"Yes sir." I replied, my hopes for possibly sabotaging their plan going right out the window.

"Then if there are no further questions, you are dismissed. Get ready and leave as soon as possible." Otto replied. At this, I left his office along with Vulture and Electro.

* * *

I watched as the cars crashed due to Otto's doing and prayed that no one was dead or seriously hurt because of him. As the crowd was busy with the car crash, Electro made his move and knocked out the girl. I involuntarily flinched when I saw him lightly zap her, remembering the pain in my neck and the instant blackness that had engulfed me when I had been kidnapped several months ago.

"Dragon, go double check the cage. Vulture will be here momentarily." Otto said after watching Vulture pick up the girl.

Hitting the switch in my palm, I hovered in the air and flew back to the main room. Lightly flying around the base was good practice for me. I was able to control my speed better and could maker sharper turns because of this practice.

The cage was rather large and it was suspended in the air, being held up by a large and thick metal chain. It hung from the ceiling because Otto wanted to make sure that she couldn't get out and possibly escape.

I suddenly heard the familiar hum of Vultures tech and, sure enough, he came swooping into the room with the girl hanging from his clawed boots.

"Open the cage, Dragon. She's a lot heavier than she looks." Vulture said as he floated next to me for a moment. Taking out the key, I opened the cage and he tossed her in like a rag doll. From there, Vulture landed next to her and searched her pockets. He took out her cell phone, and a few other items that he thought could've helped her to pick the lock on the cage. Once he was done and out, I proceeded to close and lock the cage door; officially making her our prisoner and possibly sealing a horrible fate upon her.

"Master Planner, our guest has arrived and she's kindly lent us her phone." Vulture called up to Otto. We had been instructed to call him Master Planner when we were around the prisoner.

"Good, now we just have to wait for her to start waking up. It shouldn't be too long. Dragon, keep an eye on her and inform me when she starts to come around." Otto ordered.

"Yes sir." I replied dully as I flew up and landed top of the cage.

I looked upon the girl's unconscious form as I thought this whole thing through again. We were using this girl to get to her father, I wondered if he would follow Otto's orders to get her back or possibly reject Otto's orders and alert the police about the kidnapping. If there was anything about people that I had learned through this whole ordeal, it was that people were completely unpredictable and that Otto, no matter how many possibilities he had come up with, could not be able to know how Captain Stacy would react. My mother had been a perfect example of this. I wondered if she was still looking for me or if she had given up. What if she didn't really want me back at all and could've cared less?

I eventually began to wonder what it would be like if our lives were switched. It could've easily been me lying inside that cage right now, and several months ago it had been me strapped to that table. But what if she had been turned into Dragon Girl? Would she have acted as I had? Would there even _be_ a Dragon Girl? Would her father have rejected her if she looked as I did now? Even if he did, would she have attacked Spider-man, done time in Rykers for it, accepted the invitation of the Sinister Six, gone through therapy in Ravencroft only to end up making the same mistake again and again? Would this stranger, who I knew nearly nothing about, have followed my path if she were me? Would she even be seeking revenge?

_"You're hurting people, that's what makes your choice wrong!" _Spider-man's voice called from the back of my head. He had been right then and he was right now. But, what could I do to fix this mess? I couldn't fight Otto or Vulture; they would crush me without any hesitation.

"Hey, you okay Dragon?" Electro asked, ripping me from my thoughts. I must've been so deep in them that I hadn't noticed that he had come back.

"Fine." I replied as I swooped down to ground level, leaving the girl in the cage and my thoughts behind. "You sure you didn't put too much force behind your electricity when you zapped her? The kid's already been out for an hour and hasn't stirred once." I asked.

"I was careful. I guess she isn't all that tough though." Electro replied. "What's it matter to you anyway?"

"I was told to keep an eye on her. Nothing more than that." I replied, forcing an airy tone behind my words; as though my interests and concerns lied elsewhere.

Just then, I heard her mumble something and, as she shifted a little, the cage let out a small creaking sound. She was waking up.

"So now she wakes up, talk to you later Electro." I remarked, making my tone sound annoyed, as I took off for Otto's room.

"She's starting to wake up." I informed Otto as I entered the office.

"Good, then now is the time dial her father's number. I'm eager to negotiate our deal with him." Otto said as he sent one of his mechanical arms to retrieve the phone on the other end of this work table.

"Hi Gwen." Her father said after several seconds of ringing. Otto had hit speaker on the phone.

"No, not Gwen, Captain Stacy. It seems you need help keeping track of your daughter. Teenagers can be such a bother." Otto replied, taking the phone and tossing it to Vulture, who took it to the cage where Gwen was being held.

"Who is this? How did you get Gwen's phone?" Captain Stacy demanded.

"Oh, call me Master Planner. As for the phone, it came from Miss Stacy of course." Otto replied.

Vulture, holding out the phone, brought it to Gwen, just as she was still beginning to wake up. When she saw him, she understandably freaked out and called out for her dad to help her. I avoided watching the scene, but I couldn't avoid listening to it like her father was. Her cries for help were horrible enough, I couldn't imagine what her father was feeling from them.

"That's quite enough I think." Otto replied.

"Gwen? Gwen? Put her back on!" He ordered.

"Don't bother checking her GPS on your computer it's disabled. And don't call for help, trust me, I'll know." Otto ordered back at him.

"Listen creep, if you touch her I'll – " Captain Stacy began to threaten, but Otto cut him off.

"Let's dispense with the ugly 'what if's' and get to the business at hand."

"What do you want?" Mr. Stacy asked after letting out a long sigh.

"The global portal codes from Homeland Security at New York HQ." Otto replied in a tone that should've been used if he were talking about the weather.

"Forget it! Those codes would give you access to every computer in the US, maybe the –"

"World? Yes and you will provide them." Otto finished.

"Look, it's impossible. I get briefings at Homesec., but I don't have clearance for the codes. I couldn't get them if I wanted to." Mr. Stacy replied.

"Oh, I think you could, with a little help and the proper motivation." Otto replied.

As Otto began to instruct Captain Stacy on what he was going to do, I slipped back out into the main room where Gwen was being kept. Understandably, she was hysterical crying up in her cage. Vulture, on the other hand, was making an adjustment to his flight tech for the next part of the plan that Otto had. He was going to be a distraction for when Captain Stacy arrived at Homeland security.

I, on the other hand, would not be assisting Vulture because Otto still didn't fully trust me to carry out his plans. Flying back up to the top of the cage, I tried to land in a way that would shake the cage the least.

"W-why are you doing this!" She sobbed when she realized that I had landed. My heart sank, for I had asked myself the same thing when I had awoken to find my body and life changed forever.

"We just need you to get your dad to do what we need him to." I replied, feeling that she at least deserved some answers. After all, I knew what it was like to have so many questions and absolutely no answers to them.

"You're a bunch of thieves and crooks, why not do it yourselves?" She sobbed in response.

"Not that simple." I replied, still trying to sound uninterested an uncaring since Vulture was still within earshot.

It was a while before she spoke again. "Why are _you_ doing this?"

"I already answered that one." I replied.

"I'm not talking about your group, I'm talking about you. Why are you doing this?" She asked carefully.

Her question took me by surprise, since it was the last thing I expected her to ask. "What makes you think that I'm any different than the others?" I questioned in return.

"Well…you…you just don't seem like you're happy with what you're doing…" She replied hesitantly.

I looked up to make sure that no one was around now. Vulture had left and Electro was nowhere to be seen, but I wouldn't doubt that Otto had a way of hearing what I was saying. "*Sigh*, look I have my reasons. It's nothing personal against you though."

"That makes two of us!" Someone shouted as I was kicked hard in the back, sending me flying off the cage and towards the metal flooring. But I quickly turned on my tech flight and stopped my fall before I made contact with the hard metal.

"Spider-man!" Gwen shouted in surprise.

"It was nothing personal against you." Spider-man spoke at me before tuning his attention to Gwen. "It's okay Gw-Girly, I'll have you out in a minute."

I could've sworn that I almost heard him call her by her name, did he know her? But I didn't have time to dwell on it, since Electro came charging into the room.

"You're finished Web-creep!" Electro shouted as he shot electricity at him.

"Look out!" Gwen called, but Spider-man was already out of the way and she still had her hands on the metal bars of the cage.

"NO! Let go of the bars!" Spider-man and I both shouted at the same time. I had spoken without thinking, and it was meaningless for me to say as Gwen ended up getting zapped anyways. The only problem was that I didn't know if she was breathing or not this time, Electro had charged that shot up in order to kill Spider-man, not to simply knock someone out.

Wondering if Gwen was either unconscious or dead, and I prayed for the former, I rushed over to check her pulse while Spider-man went to attack Electro. '_Thank heavens she still has a pulse_' I thought to myself after I checked.

"Dragon! A little help here!" Electro shouted as he continued to throw electricity at Spider-man , getting lucky and hitting him once. Spider-man was thrown back into one of the machines and the force behind him damaged the machine badly, denting it in and breaking several switches and buttons. But he wasn't getting up too quickly. And, Electro noticing this as well, prepared for a possibly fatal attack.

Without any hesitation I swooped in and elbowed Electro in the ribs, effectively knocking the wind out of him and momentarily de-powering him as I slammed him against another machine.

"Wha-?" Electro asked, stunned by my sudden attack. Instead of answering him though I prepared to pin him to the wall with my claws, except he managed to take his free hand and punch me in the stomach faster than I thought he would've. The tech in my suit absorbed most of his electricity, but it still hurt and made me release my grip on him. This allowed him to get another good hit in, though this time I was a bit more prepared and took on in the direction of his punch; missing most of the force behind it.

But while I had managed to outfly his punch, I wasn't going to outfly the zap of electricity that followed. This time I received the full shock and was sent crashing into a machine on the opposite wall, crushing it as it broke my fall. I hugged my ribs in an attempt to calm the blazing heat in them. I needed to get back on my feet as quickly as possible; since every minute I sat there was another minute Electro could send another shot of electricity in my direction.

"Electro, Take this conflict elsewhere!" Otto ordered shortly after I had crashed and destroyed a third machine.

"Uh, sure thing M.P." Electro called back.

"Whoa, Max, don't tell me you're scared of a second-rate schemer with a funny voice." Spider-man said as he jumped onto the railing in front of the machines. I guess my attack was enough of a distraction for Spider-man to get back on his feet. Trying to do the same, I hit the switch in my glove again, but this time I didn't instantly take off like I normally did. That last zap of electricity must've fried my flight tech! But, knowing first-hand how Electro responded to being called 'Max', I knew that my broken tech was the least of my worries.

"First, I'm not scared of nothing!" Electro replied as he fired another shot, which ended up hitting the machines behind Spider-man, since Spider-man dogged it with ease. "Second, Master Planner ain't second rate nothing!" Electro shouted as he continued to fire shot after shot, hitting nothing except for the machines around the room. He was also starting to zap small holes in the walls, where water was beginning to rush in. "Third, don't call me Max or I'll fry you into nothing!" He shouted, shooting shots of electricity wildly in an attempt to finally hit Spider-man.

"ELECTRO STAND DOWN!" Otto ordered, but Electro just continued to do as he was doing; destroying the place up in the process.

"Max! Maxie! Maximellium! Maximum!" Spider-man taunted as he swung around the room, just angering Electro further.

"Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!" Electro shouted in rage, blasting a hole in the ceiling and causing it to cave in on us! I managed to doge the steel beam, but it landed on top of Electro and knocked him out as well.

I knew better than to think that this fight was over though, we had only won round one. As if on cue, several mechanical arms came out of the walls. I knew Otto would join this fight as well. One arm wrapped itself around Electro and lifted him up and away from the rising water level, though it wasn't an act to save Electro from drowning. It was an act that only prevented him from electrocuting and damaging the rest of the machinery in the hideout.

"Hey, Master Planner" Spider-man called out after bending the bars to Gwen's cage. "A little secret identity advice from an expert, don't sign your work, Doctor Octopus!"

"Yes Spider-man, it's spectacularly clever of you to guess the truth _after_ I've revealed it to you." Otto replied as several arms began to snap at the bars of Gwen's cage, once the gap was large enough they reached in and picked her up like they had Electro.

"If you're gonna dance with my date, then I'm totally dancing with yours!" Spider-man said as swung his way over to an unconscious Electro.

Webbing up Electro a little, he pulled him free of Otto's grasp, sent him flying towards a cluster of Otto's mechanical arms and caused Electro to electrify the arms as they made contact. After a moment of bright electricity, the arms circuitry was fried and they were practically useless. The only problem was that Electro ended up landing on one of the larger screens, causing a small explosion from the high voltage he was emitting.

I ducked and covered my head with my hands to prevent getting hit by any flying pieces of glass debris.

"Okay, that was almost worth it," Spider-man said as he forced himself to get up after being blasted from where he had stood from the force of the blast. Creating webbing and swinging himself over to the cage, he went to Gwen, who was still knocked out. And just as he had gotten her in his arms, Otto's slammed right into him, making him drop her as he was sent flying backwards.

"I thought the arms race was over." Spider-man said as he slowly got to his feet.

"Oh I still have a few up my sleeve." Otto replied as he sent forth another one of his arms to attack. He was now physically in the room and fighting Spider-man himself instead of relying on his other remote controlled arms to do his work. He was holding Gwen tightly by the waist with one arm and using the rest to fight though. Perhaps he thought that Spider-man wouldn't come too close to him because he was holding her hostage.

'_Come on, work_!' I mentally shouted at my suit, since it still wasn't working. While Spider-man continued to fight with Otto, I furiously tried to make my suit work again. '_I need to fight, don't do this to me when I've finally realized what my mistakes are! Please! Let me finally do some good and fix my screw ups_!' Suddenly, as though the suit had read my thoughts and agreed, the tech sprang to life and I was back up in the air again.

In the moment it took for me to get my tech working again, Otto had Spider-man in his clutches and pinned to the wall again. I needed to act quickly, but what would work? If I attacked Otto, he could crush Spider-man or drop Gwen into the water! And I highly doubted that my tech would survive diving for her.

Suddenly I remembered the main machine that connected Otto to the rest of the computers in the city. He had said something about it being connected to his mind, so I raced over to the machine while he was busy with Spider-man. I grew my claws to full length and hacked at the machine. Taking a small patch of its metal exterior off, I took the opportunity to reach in and cut several wires. The Machine sparked wildly, shocking my suit lightly again. Fighting the sparks of electricity, I reached back in and slashed up several more wires. As my claws made contact with the wires, the machine let off one large spark and then blew up. The blast had knocked me back into the opposite wall, but I was happy to say my scales had protected me from the heat of the blast.

"AH!" Otto shouted as he released his grip on Grwen, letting her fall to the watery floor below, and grabbed his head in an attempt to ease whatever pain that had just suddenly shot through him.

Seeing that she was going to hit the rising water, I dove for her; catching her in midair. I shrank my claws up as well in order to avoid stabbing her with them too. And, when I noticed that Spider-man was swinging his way towards me, I moved out of his way but held Gwen out for him to take. He snatched her out of my arms quickly and without a second glance in my direction. I knew he still didn't trust me, and I didn't blame him either.

"Without server to route signals, aah, it - it's too much! Too much! Must destroy connection!" Otto said as he took all the strength he could collect and sent his arms into the floor to take chunks of wires and rip them.

Once the wires were ripped, Otto seemed to relax slightly; as though a great weight had been lifted off of him but he was still feeling the ache of holding it for too long. He made his way over to a platform where there were several door-like things attached to the walls. In fact, now that I thought of it, they looked like escape pods.

"Congratulations Arachnid, my lair, my master plan, all ruined." Otto said as he got to the platform.

"Thanks, I specialize in foiling." Spider-man replied as he shifted Gwen in his arms, making her easier for him to hold.

"And Dragon," Otto said as he pointed to me. I glared back in return. "You traitor, I should've know that you would turn on me eventually. Too bad only one option remains." Otto said as he sent one of his arms to turn a switch.

Suddenly a loud siren went off, the noise was painful to my hearing but I didn't have the time or the luxury to complain about it now. Every functioning screen also switched to red and flashed the words 'Self Destruct'.

"Farewell Spider-man, and you too Dragon. Enjoy your tomb." Otto said as he entered one of the escape pods and, with that, he was gone. He had left us here to perish. As soon as he had left, several explosions went off in rapid succession and shook the whole building.

"I hope you at least know how to drive one of those pods!" Spider-man shouted at me as he tried to swing over to the platform where the pods were docked. But as he was making his way there, the ceiling began to crumble further and the cage and it's rack came crashing down onto Spider-man and Gwen! Fortunately Spider-man had managed to toss Gwen on to the top of the cage so that she wasn't in danger of drowning.

"Crap!" I shouted as I swooped down to see if he had survived being crushed or not. What I found was almost as bad though, for he was trapped underneath the metal and couldn't get out. "Are you hurt?" I asked, hoping that he hadn't broken an ankle, a leg, or his spine.

"Can't budge it," He grunted, obviously struggling to try and break free.

"Let me help!" I said, extending my claws. I was acting on instinct and planned on hacking them at the metal to try and widen the gap.

"No!" he snapped at me, obvious distrust in his tone. I didn't blame him though, up until a little while ago I had been his enemy and I had attacked him several times in the past. Perhaps he thought I was taking advantage of his momentary weakness, and for all he knew I could've been.

"Get the girl and get her to safety!" He instructed. I took a moment to look down on him and nodding in agreement I turned from him and went to pick up Gwen. Perhaps he thought this was the end for him? While I didn't want to believe that, I wasn't going to ignore his request and waste the precious time we still had before the place exploded.

Once I had her securely in my arms, I took one last look at him and then took off for the platform before the rest of the ceiling could fall in on us. I was going to get her to safety, that much I was determined to do. She had done nothing wrong and she was the victim here. I was just as much to blame for her kidnapping as Otto, Vulture, and Electro were because I hadn't stopped them. And I wasn't going to let her pay the price for another one of my screw-ups.

Gwen moaned and stirred a little in my arms though, perhaps she was beginning to come back to consciousness. And, with that said, she suddenly woke up and, seeing me, she screamed. I understood her reaction, since she still saw me as the bad guy. Seeing that she was awake, I gently let her stand on her own.

At the sound of her scream though, Spider-man had suddenly found the strength to get up and move the rack that was on top of him. As soon as he was free, he swung his way up to the platform with us. "Let's go, we don't have much time left." He said.

"What about him?" Gwen asked as she looked at the unconscious Electro.

"I'll get him. You two get into the pod and get it set up." I said as I swooped down to where Electro was. Seeing that Otto's spare arm was still tightly wrapped around him, I severed it from the wall and used it to move Electro; since he was still sending off strong waves of electricity. And, as I was getting ready to take off for the platform again, I noticed a cell phone lying on the last edge of dry computer tech. It must've been blown from Otto's office during the first round of small explosions. I snatched it and tossed it into one of my pockets before taking off.

"Don't touch him, he's still juiced." Spider-man told Gwen as I moved him into the pod.

Moving past them, I went straight to the controls and hit the 'Emergency Disconnect' button. I hit the button that closed the door and unlocked the steering wheal. Hitting the engine button, we took off in time as the place began to explode. A mist of white bubbles surrounded us as the final explosions went off and Gwen freaked out slightly.

"Relax, we're safe." I told her as I continued to dive the pod. She seemed to relax a little, but she and Spider-man still seemed to be watching me closely from their seats. Reaching into my back pocket, I took out the cell phone and tossed it at Gwen. "I do believe that that's yours. Use it to call your dad when we get to the surface. He's probably worried sick about you."

"Okay….but, what are you going to do?" She asked.

"Honestly, I don't know, but I hope you don't mind if I don't stick around until the police arrive. I don't plan on going back to jail." I replied with a small smile.

"But if I told them that you helped –" Gwen started, but I interrupted her.

"Thanks, I appreciate it, but it's better if I'm not there. Besides, I still have a few things that I need to fix."

* * *

Upon arriving back on dry land, I opened the pod doors and walked out onto the snow. "See you around." I said to Spider-man before I took to the sky once more. And as I embraced the night sky, I pondered upon a few thoughts. It was funny how a stranger I knew nothing about had changed me so quickly. If it weren't for her, I would still be doing Otto's dirty work right now.

So, I needed to make it up to her, and I finally knew where to start. I needed to make good on my very long list of mistakes. I was shedding my skin of bad in exchange for a new skin of good.

I am Dragon Girl, and I'm the newest crime fighter in this city!

* * *

Author's Note:

YAY! I finally finished chapter 14! I'm so sorry it took me forever to finish this one, but I'm hoping that its extra-long length makes it up to you all. Also, I'm sorry if this chapter seems sort of rushed and choppy, I tried to fix this to the best of my abbility, but for the most part it remained the same. I really tried to make this chapter the major turning point for Dragon.  
Yes I know I've been really slow at updating lately, but I've been working my butt off in school these past few months (plus I have a life outside of school that I need to balance outside of my writing). Hopefully chapter 15 comes out much sooner.

So with that, I guess this is goodbye till the next chapter!

(P.S. You can check my profile for status updates on how much of the chapter I've finished! And please don't forget to take my poll of the week on my Quizilla!)

Extra Info: This chapter was based off of episode 17: **Shear Strength**


	16. Changed

Chapter 15: Changed

The first few days on my own were excruciatingly difficult. Hunger was the biggest problem, but I quickly learned how to swipe pretzels and fruit off of the stands throughout the city without causing a huge commotion. And while I felt bad about the stealing, it was a necessary and (as I continually reminded myself) temporary evil. I found that if I walked around in the dark with a bulky hoody and jeans at night people were less likely to notice my reptilian features. I guess I should be grateful that my scales are dark grey and not green. Plus, people ignored everyone in the city and preferred to stick to their own business, so I was pretty much invisible so long as I kept the five finger discounts to a minimum.

Unfortunately, my new career as a hero was also pretty difficult. My tech flight had seen better days and I was still in the process of gathering materials to try and fix it. That's if it could even be fixed. After being zapped and drowned, I highly doubted that it would ever work again. Heck, I guess I should be grateful that it came back to life when I needed it most.

And let's not forget the little fact that I'm no technician, nor do I pretend to be, and I wouldn't even know how to address the problem or how to fix it. In other words, I couldn't rely on my wings any longer. But, being somewhat sentimental, I needed to at least try to fix them before I completely gave up on them. They really were the only thing I had of any value.

So at the moment I stuck to knocking out small crimes, like theft, street fights, pretty much anything that I could easily do on foot. It was hard adjusting to fighting on the ground again, after using the wings for so long. But I stuck to climbing walls with my claws and checking in around all the major alleyways of the city and it was working for the time being.

Also, shelter was another sore subject. I practically lived out of a backpack (that I had conveniently taken from a NYC souvenir stand…). Most of my supplies, clothes, and whatnot that I had gathered were stored in it and at this point I had gathered at least two changes of clothes (two T-shirts and pants and some undergarments), and other useful tools like a lighter, a flashlight, a canteen for water, a screwdriver, duct tape (the answer to nearly all problems), two empty glass containers, a first aid kid, and a small blanket. I moved from hidey-hole to hidey-hole to avoid the police catching me and to avoid drawing too much attention to myself.

So after prowling the streets for trouble and putting a stop to some small thefts, I wasn't too surprised to hear a burglar alarm go off about a block away. And I sure wasn't all that surprised to see that it was a jewelry store either, since they were the stereotypical target of nearly all robbers. Too bad that many robbers failed to realize that they were the most heavily guarded places next to banks.

Uppon arriving I was surprised to see a familiar face, it just wasn't a face that I wanted to see so soon. And at the moment he seemed to have his hands full with fighting Spider-man in the street while hanging on to his stolen goods. Though, as he punched Spider-man into a hair salon's storefront windows, I noticed that something was different about him. He seemed...taller maybe?

"Head's up Sandy!" I Shouted as I came leaping through the air and roundhouse kicking his guillotine form. This was enough of a distraction for Spider-man to web-sling himself towards the wall and free himself from Sandman's grip.

"Ugh!" Flint moaned as he reformed, though not yet realizing that he was in the path of the broken pipe's water. "Hey! Aw man, my big score!" He complained as he was deconstructed and washed down the drain, leaving his stolen jewels behind.

Spider-man and I shared a quick awkward glance with each other before the police arrived. As he went running out the shattered window, I went running for the back door, and out into the alleyway. And luckily for me a sewer entrance was right at my feet. I quickly ripped the cover off and dove down the manhole after Sandman.

Once I hit the shallow water, I took off down the tunnels, looking for any signs that Sandman had passed and hoping that he hadn't already gotten too far away. And once again luck was in my favor, for it didn't take me too long to find a trail of slithering sand. It seemed as though he had yet to reform into a humanoid form.

"Flint," I called after him, shooting his sandy form with a round of claws. A useless tactic, but he stopped running nonetheless.

"What do ya want now, kid?" He snapped as he reformed.

Kid. Not Dragon nor Bridget. Though there was a familiar tone in the word as he addressed me, I was neither teammate or complete stranger. I needed to remind myself of that. I would never entirely be what I once was. My time with the Sinister Seven would have a lasting impression, but neither he nor I was the other's friend.

"I've got questions, and you've got answers." I replied, giving no room for negotiations on this subject. He had the answers to the questions I'd had for so long. "'The Big Man', how do I find him." I demanded.

"You lookin' for a job?" He asked. Though something in his tone told me he already knew the answer to my question. I had attacked him to prevent him from killing Spider-man a few minutes ago after all.

"An _even_ score." I replied.

"Justice then," Sandman replied. "Sorry I'm not into charity. Find out for yourself and stop wasting my time. Unless you came down here for more than just answers?"

I was taken aback by this, for I hadn't thought ahead about what I'd do after getting my answers. Or even if I'd get them. But I did lengthen my claws in case I had to defend myself.

After noticing my claws, in a flash he had me pinned to the wall in a solid net of sand. The weight of the sand practically crushing me, making it difficult to breath. With my arms and legs immobile, I was defenseless and vulnerable.

"That suit made you stronger than you actually are. Without it, you're not even on the same playing field as the rest of us. Keep that in mind before you go demanding stuff. The others aren't as nice as I am when it comes to a _former_ comrade." Flint warned darkly. After holding me there for a solid minute to get his point across the strength of his sand slowly began to loosen and he allowed me to collapse against the concrete of the tunnel; gasping for air. "Go play 'Hero' somewhere else. I don't have time for it." Sandman remarked with pure venom in his tone before continuing down the tunnel. This time, I didn't bother to call out or follow.

* * *

Once I made it back to my temporary hideout, I practically collapsed onto my makeshift bed. Though my body and mind cried out for sleep, I couldn't help but wonder what was up with Flint's second warning. This was the second time he's warned for me to be careful of my old teammates.

Though I wondered about the meaning behind his actions, I knew he was right about one thing; that suit had lead me into a false sense of security. It made me think that I was stronger than I actually was. I needed to overcome the suit in order to know what I was truly made of. Though that was easier said than done; a rather large part of me still wanted to fix the suit and continue to use it. If I wasn't strong enough without it, how would I ever be able to fight off the remaining members of the Seven? How could I hope to be a crime fighter if I wasn't strong enough?

Deciding that I wasn't going to get any answers while half asleep, I pushed the thoughts away long enough for myself to fall asleep.

* * *

I woke up late in the evening and began my patrol a little after seven o'clock. Thought I had to fight myself on not wearing the suit. It was broken and useless at the moment; so I stuck to a hoodie and jeans for the time being. I needed to make a choice though, and soon. Should I keep and fix the old one or toss it and put my efforts towards a new one?

I put off answering my own question for a little while longer by going out on my patrol, keeping my eyes and ears out for trouble. Tonight I decided to hit the docks, especially since patrolling that block with the Jewelers for the second night in a row wasn't exactly helpful or useful to anybody. Besides stuff always went down at the docks from gang activity to drug dealers.

But tonight all seemed calm. Workers had already returned home from their long day's work and a couple of children were even playing in the sand. I watched them for a moment and found myself slightly envious of their innocence. They had no idea how lucky they really were. '_And that is worth protecting_,' I mentally reminded myself.

Some of the older boys flicked bits of sand at the younger girl and made jocular remarks towards her tiny pile of sand; and though I was upset with the behavior I had to refrain from going down there and causing a scene. I could've taken care of the bullies, but with my appearance I probably would've scared the little girl as well.

And, as I've found most things do, while I was stuck in my thought bubble the sand on the beach began to reform. While the sand chased off the bullies it took the form a huge castle, and then gently reformed back to the level beach. Standing next to the girl was Sandman. My first initial reaction was for me to get my ass down there, but instead of attacking or kidnapping the girl he just handed her the tiny toy shovel and then was off on his way again. No harm came to anybody really.

I kept my eyes glued to him, but the person he was now talking to caught most of my attention. Yet another familiar face who ignited a type of anger within me. Hammerhead was there and paying Sandman, for what I didn't know and didn't care about at the moment though. If Sandman was taking orders from Hammerhead, then that meant that the Master Planner, Otto, had rented him out to 'The Big Man' again. And I needed an even score with Hammerhead anyway, but how would I go about taking him down? I couldn't do it with Sandman still there, I woudn't stand a chance. As he got into his limousine, I had to decide on following Hammerhead or following Sandman.

'_This could be my only chance to get Hammerhead! But I started this with Sandman and I should finish what I started…_' I mentally decided as I let the car leave my line of sight.

As I stealthily made my way over to where Sandman was, I watched as he absorbed the beach's sand once more and took to the water. At first I wondered what the hell he was doing, he usually couldn't keep his form in the water. But as I continued to watch I realized that he had so much sand under his control that he could keep adding layers of dryer sand to replenish the soaked.

"What are you after?" I wondered aloud to myself. As I looked across the bay I finally spotted his target and put two and two together; he was after the oil tanker! Without wasting another minute I ran for the sand with my claws extended.

"Go away Dragon." Sandman snapped at me while throwing a sandy punch at me. Being quick on my feet I luckily dodged it.

"Not until you stop! What's your problem anyways? With your powers, you could do real good and help people! You said it yourself, you're stronger than me! But instead of doing what's right you waste your power by continuing to pull the same stupid crimes!" I replied while dodging punches of sand and throwing round after round of my claws.

"Like you of all people have a right to judge?" Sandman replied, throwing another punch.

"I know you aren't evil, Flint. I saw what you did for that little girl back there. How you chased off those bullies. Why can't you do that –"

"First Spider-man and now you? Just shut up already!" Sandman shouted as he managed to land a hit that sent me flying out into the open water. Uppon reaching the surface I swam furiously towards the Oil Tanker. If I couldn't stop Sandman, I could at least get the crew off the ship.

"Okay Sandman, I know you're here and I don't care how big you get, you're going down!" The voice of Spider-man suddenly challenged as I reached the ship.

"Oh really!" Sandman laughed as he grew in scale, becoming twice as tall as the ship itself.

Not wanting to waste any time I took my claws and dug them into the ships metal. Though I couldn't really break through its metal, I was able to lift myself out of the water and climb up its side with my claws. And by the time I got up onto the deck, Sandman and Spider-man were in full fight while I went to work on directing people to the escape rafts.

"Get in, I got it." I told one sailor who appeared to be having trouble lowering his raft. He didn't argue and once he was in the raft I grew out a new set of claws. "Hang on, it's gonna be a rough landing." I said as I cut the wire, sending them down a couple of feet into the bay. Though they landed with a loud splash, they appeared fine and I went off to the next raft. Better a rough landing than being trapped on this ship while Sandman and Spider-man fought.

Sandman violently hit one side of the ship; causing the whole ship to rock on its side. While many frantic sailors grabbed onto the railings and any solid anchors they could grab to prevent them from falling into the cold bay, two sailors happened to be in free fall. Leaping over some mechanical pieces I grabbed onto one's ankle and the other's jacket, careful not to stab them with my claws. Using the claws in my feet I scrapped them across the deck and dug them in to stop our fall. "Ugh! Don't worry, I've got ya!" I said through gritted teeth, trying to hide the pain of their strain in my voice. I also said it more for me than for them.

As the tanker flipped back over, I let them go and told them to get to the rafts. Sandman was tearing the ship apart now and I needed to work quickly. I made my way to the remaining rafts and cut them loose, saying that there wasn't enough time to lower them slowly. Taking a look around, It came to my attention that some members of the crew were up in the ships controls tower. But before I could climb my way up to them, some stray sparks caught the loose oil on fire and within minutes the fire had spread to most of the ship.

"Wonderful, fire on an oil tanker, just what we needed." I remarked with heavy sarcasm.

As I finally reached the top I tried opening the large metal door only to find it jammed. Bracing myself I slammed into the metal door with all the strength I could gather. Ignoring the searing heat of the metal against my skin, I managed to knock the door open. This caused the flames to shoot towards the new source of oxygen. Acting quickly, I dove towards the floor and into the room. I needed to get the remaining members of the crew out before the ship either blew or Sandman sunk it.

Fighting my way through the flames, I called out to the remaining crew members. Though my voice was drowned out over the roar of the flames and the noise of the outside. The ship was rocking furiously now and it hindered my efforts of getting to the crew as quickly as I could.

"Abandon ship!" I shouted over the noise to the last members of the crew as I finally reached the control room. Suddenly the ship gave another violent rock and we were all lifted high into the air again. Sandman had finally cracked the boat and our half of the ship was sinking in a nose dive now. As two of the remaining men stumbled against the windows, the third man fell through an already broken one.

"No!" I cried as I dove for him, missing his feet by mere centimeters. I watched in horror for one seemingly endless moment as that man fell in free fall towards the fiery waters below. But suddenly he landed on a mound of sand in midair; Flint had caught him and was placing him on one of the rafts.

Seeing that he was safe, I put my efforts towards the remaining men. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine, but the captain's jacket sleeve is stuck in the controls." The younger of the men replied as he tried to help the other. I made quick work of cutting the captain free and helped the other man lift the captain to his feet.

"Time to get off this tub!" Spider-man said as he came crashing in through one of the windows.

"It's too late, she'll blow before she sinks." The captain replied.

"Get them off first." I told Spider-man as we shared a brief look of understanding. He was more qualified to get them off than I. Without my wings, I would've taken too long.

But before Spider-man could take them, a huge hand of sand came crashing in through the second window and grabbed both members of the crew before pulling them out into the open.

"Flint!" I called out, panicked that he would crush the crew members.

"Sandman! Stop you're -." Spider-man also called before realizing what Flint was doing. He was helping the crew get to safety. And once he had placed them in the raft, he took his hands and swung them out to create a wave that would put distance between the crew and the burning ship. "Saved them?" Spider-man questioned, as though in shock by Sandman's actions.

I heard a loud band somewhere behind us, and knew what was coming before it hit. "Move Spidey!" I shouted as I pushed Spider-man back out his window. And as I did, a large explosion went off in the control room behind us. While I managed to slip out the window along with Spider-man; my exposed feet were not so lucky. They ended up getting licked by the flamed for a brief moment and that was all it took to burn them.

"Ahg!" I shouted in pain. I was in a dangerous free fall now while Spider-man had managed to web himself to a safer perch. My mind raced as I looked for options on saving myself here. How useless could I get?

I ended up landing on a small area of sand. Flint had caught me as well. "I was only in it for the bucks. I never meant for this to happen." Sandman confessed as he grabbed Spider-man as well and tossed us both away to safety.

While Spider-man used his webs to slow his free fall and land on a street light, I went flying far past him and onto one of the building roofs. Though my landing wasn't as graceful as Spider-man's, I still struggled to get back up, but was pushed back to the ground by a strong force from the blast. While my feet were in blistering pain, I still struggled to get up and see what Flint had done. And I was stunned to see that he looked as though he had crystalized.

"The heat from the explosion must've glazed him." I heard Spider-man say a few feet in front of me. His tone sounded almost as stunned as I felt. "You wanted a big score Marko. As far as I'm concerned, you just scored as big as a man can." And with that, Spider-man turned around and web-swinged himself towards me.

As he landed next to me, he seemed to observe me for a moment before speaking."You tried to help." He stated, though sounding more questioning.

"I tried. I'm not as good at it as you are, but I'm trying to get better." I replied as I watched what remained of Flint crumble back into the bay along with the sinking ship. "I know trust isn't just given, but I've changed. I'm just trying to make right on my wrongs."

He thought a minute before replying. "After today, I think it's possible." And that was all that was said before he took off again.

As I got up to leave as well, I noticed a sandy form in the wind at the beach. Flint smiling as he stood there. We made eye contact for less than a minute before he dissolved back into the wind.

* * *

Slipping back into my hideaway, I reached into my backpack and pulled out my first aid kit. I took the time to bandage up my burnt feet. Though while I was busy fixing myself up, I noticed the green and black rolled up tech flight suit sticking out of my bag.

Normally I would've taken it out with great care, but now I just ripped it out of the bag without so much as a second thought. I needed to get rid of it. It was a reminder of what I'd done, what I was, and I needed to shed this skin for my new one. I should've tossed it the minute I left to be on my own. Some old attachment allowed me to hold on to it for so long, but now I knew that I would never move on with my life so long as I held onto it.

If Flint could change then so could I. We had both been the Big Man's guinea pigs. We went down the dark path, took orders and did things we've regretted. The only difference was that he had still gone down that darker path until the very end. I didn't need the suit's extra power to do what I had to. No, I would do it all with my own abilities.

Reaching back into my bag again, I took out my lighter and clicked it to life. I stared at the small orange flame as it flickered in the drafty room. "There's no going back", I told myself aloud as I brought the flame to the suit. Once the flame caught it grew and within minutes the suit was engulfed. I took out my full water canteen and dumped it, extinguishing the flame. If the suit had been irreparable before, it was without a doubt beyond all means of repair now. It was reduced to a pile of smoking cloth with burnt wires and ash. I scooped up some of that ash and tossed it out into the wind, letting it leave my hand.

Dragons were reptiles, and reptiles shedded their skin. It was high time that I shedded my own skin in favor of the new layer of my life. As for my old skin, It's gone now and won't ever come back.


	17. Identity

Chapter 16: Identity 

I came out of nowhere; the heel of my foot connecting with the masked man's jaw, probably breaking it too. I hadn't meant to do that, stun him and make him drop the knife, but not seriously injure him. While he screamed in pain on the ground, his friends were quick to recover from the shock of my arrival on the scene.

Two of them, both cowards with knives, went in to attack and extract revenge for their partner. But just because they were armed didn't make them skilled. One waved it wildly in front of him while the other held it out at arm's length as he charged at me. In several sharp movements I'd have them disarmed.

I took out the wild one first, crouching quickly and kicking his legs out from under him. As he fell, I met him half-way on my way to a standing position and swiped the knife from him with my bare hand. I paid the blade no attention, my scaled skin was too tough for it to cut.

As for the second one, I went to disarm him with a swift knock to the forearm but unfortunately he acted faster than I thought he would. He withdrew the knife and once I was close enough managed to take a stab at my stomach. Even though it failed to break skin, it had hit me with enough force that I wouldn't be surprised to find a bruise tomorrow morning. My recovery was quick; I forced myself to give him a sharp elbow to the gut which effectively made him double over in pain. This gave me the opportunity to grab his knife from his hands.

I grabbed a pair of handcuffs from my belt and quickly tied the three men up to each other, one cuff for one hand and the other for the other's hand. This left them tied to a street light in a tight circle. The police would find them in a couple of hours or so. I didn't bother looking for the fourth man, their would-be victim, because if he was smart he wouldn't have stuck around. I hoped that he would choose to stay out of trouble for the rest of his days.

A few weeks have passed since Flint's "death" and much has changed.

Fighting the forces of the New York Underworld turned out to be much tougher than I originally thought possible. In fact, with the power vacuum at the current moment the feeling of a gang war keeps looming overhead. And that is the only reason I need to keep putting the smaller guys away.

Gangs thrived on the lower chain of people; the people who did all the dirty work and didn't know who was on top. And the way Spider-man and I were putting them behind bars left the gangs short of their pawns and they couldn't recruit fast enough to replace them.

Speaking of Spider-man, I haven't actually seen him since the day Flint "died". Though oddly enough I happened to have had a run-in with someone wearing his old black suit. Last week I made the mistake of thinking that man was Spider-man, and though my burns had healed by that time, I wasn't on the same level. He had me struggling on my knees within minutes and gave me a rather frightening warning that I've been meaning to pass onto the real Spider-man the next time I see him: "Tell my bro that I'll be seeing him real soon and that when I do he's in for a rude awakening". And with that he had left me freezing in the winter snow.

* * *

I strolled the streets, looking for an easy vender to swipe a new pair of gloves from, but found myself distracted by the crowd huddled near the electronics' shop window. At first I thought that the next model of the iPhone had come out or something as equally unimportant, but hearing the news broadcasting tune had attracted my attention instead. I found my eyes instantly glued to the screens, unable to turn away.

A film crew and many reporters were surrounding a fight between the black suited man and Spider-man. Headlines on the bottom of the screen read: "Venom declares Spider-man's identity as high school student Peter Parker". Though Spider-man wasn't yet unmasked, it was obvious that that was what the black suited Venom was trying to do; expose Spider-man's identity.

I quickly left the crowd and ran for the block where they were broadcasting from. I just hoped that I wouldn't get there too late.

* * *

It wasn't hard to find them with a ring of photographers and camera crew surrounding them. It was getting through that crowd of people that proved difficult. They were so absorbed in catching every detail of the fight that they completely ignored my politer attempts to get past them. So instead I adopted a different tactic. I walked several steps backwards and, with a running head start, flipped myself high into the air and over their heads. With the absence of my wings I've been forced to use acrobatics and gymnastics to get from point A to point B; I've also found that my mutated body allows me to perform these tasks abnormally well. I can jump higher and farther than most would think possible and all I had to do was practice enough so that these acrobatic feats became almost natural to me.

As soon as my feet touched the ground I whipped my arm across my body as I used the remaining momentum built up from the flip to send several claws flying in Venom's direction. My claws happened to provide enough of a distraction for Spider-man to free himself from underneath Venom's grip.

Letting out a roar of frustration, Venom shot a thick black web at me chest which knocked the wind out of me.

"What's with your meddling? This is strictly between my bro and I, now run along before I really louse my temper with _you_." Venom warned as I struggled to recover.

But I was no coward. Spider-man had risked his life a few times for my sake and I wasn't about to abandon him while he was in trouble. I quickly launched myself at him and was quite pleased to see my heel connect with his jaw. The impact knocked him off his center of balance and he stumbled back several feet till he regained it, dropping a small object in the process. I acted fast and snatched the object, not paying much attention to what it really was. If the bad guy had dropped it, it couldn't be good.

"I'm going to snap your neck for that!" He shouted as he shot webbing at me. But before their black threads could touch me, I felt myself being jerked backwards and found myself flat on my back in the middle of the street. Spider-man had saved me from capture, but had caught himself up instead as a crushed car came slamming into him.

"Damnit," I hissed under my breath as I sat straight up and ripped his webbing off me. But by the time I was back on my feet, they had moved their fight into Midtown Manhattan Magnet High School. Without wasting more time I ran past the court yard and started climbing the walls up to their height.

As Spider-man swung to another wall, I dug my claws into Venom's ankle to prevent him from following. It was a stupid method on my part, but I had managed to distract him long enough for Spider-man to set up his counterattack as well as also severely pissing him off. In one swift movement he grabbed me with his free hand, smashed me against the crumbling brick wall, and applied pressure to my windpipe.

In a panic I struggled like crazy; kicking wildly with claws fully extended and digging the claws in my hands into the arm that held me. My body seemed to scream in protest at me for wasting oxygen as small black dots began to appear across my vision.

A thick wad of webbing hit him from behind, attached, and pulled him from the wall though. And while I went flying from the wall with Venom, he dropped me as he became preoccupied with Spider-man once more. I crashed into the frozen fountain on the school's courtyard and gasped for air. This was the second time he had saved my ass today. Was there nothing I could do right?

By the time I managed to pull myself into a sitting position, Spider-man and Venom were fighting up on a news helicopter. And I helplessly watched as Venom sent the plane crashing down. Had it not been for Spider-man's quick thinking and giant web it would've been a whole lot worse. Instead they brought the fight into the building once more and I forced myself to get up and climb back up the building.

By the time I reached their room, Spider-man was struggling to keep Venom busy as some students ran from the room. I immediately recognized a blond girl as Gwen, and as she stood there staring at the ongoing fight I grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her into the hall. The last thing I wanted was for her to end up caught in the cross fire again.

"You need to go Gwen!" I said as I let go and raced back into the room as she ran further down the hallway.

But before I could make it back to the room a loud explosion went off and smoke began to fill the hallway as loud screeching rang out. Upon entering the room I saw Venom begin to recover from the explosion, his suit literally jumping to and from his skin. Figuring that it was a good chance to hit him while he was weak, I shot two rounds of claws at him and was slightly pleased to hear him scream out in pain. His suit wasn't so tough while in that state.

Too bad it didn't last longer. By the time my claws had regrown he had turned around and punched Spider-man through the ceiling. And before I wasted my energy climbing the wall and part of the ceiling to keep up with them I saw them falling and then fighting outside again. I quickly ran to the gaping hole in the classroom wall and shot even more claws at Venom; while being careful not to hit Spider-man in the process.

And though my claws seemed to have little effect, they did provide enough of a distraction to keep Spider-man one step ahead as he knocked Venom through another wall back into the building. I quickly turned and raced into the hallway, where I found several more students running for safety while Venom pinned Spider-man to the lockers.

I set more claws his way, but several missed and knocked into the surrounding lockers. The little dings that they made on impact seemed to upset Venom though, for his suit shuddered on him like it had one before. With that in mind, I set round after round of my claws purposely into the lockers. The several dings that rang out in quick succession were enough that Venom released Spider-man from his grip and turned his attention back to me. But in that quick moment Spider-man snatched a large wooden bat from one of the fleeing students.

"Do you really think you can hurt us with _that_?" Venom questioned with a superior look on his features.

"Kinda," Spider-man replied before whacking the nearest locker. Venom screeched as the metallic ring sounded throughout the hall. I took this chance to attack again and again until he managed to swipe and break the bat.

"That was unpleasant." Venom growled in a dangerous tone as he approached quickly with his fists prepared. Being closest, I received the first two punches; to the stomach and to the face. While I tried to recover from the ringing pain in my head on the ground, he attacked Spider-man and went as far as throwing him down a stairwell.

With my hand on my head I made my way over to the railing and then jumped down along with them. Using my claws, I slowed and controlled my decent to the ground floor where they were currently falling to. I tried to keep up, but their free fall was far faster than my controlled decent. By the time I reached the ground they were already webbing their way through the halls and the ringing in my head was still holding me back. But I pushed through the pain and began to run after them, following the trail of webbing they left behind.

Upon entering the gym, I saw an unmasked Spider-man making his way across the gym on crutches. I quickly remembered him from the earlier news broadcast.

"Which way?" I asked as I ran deeper into the gym.

"Boys locker room." He called back.

"Thanks!" I called behind my shoulder as I ran towards their fight. I heard him ask who I was, but I didn't feel like answering as I ran into the war-torn room.

"We'll take that cleanser now!" The voice of Venom sounded from deeper in the room. I ran down the narrow hall of lined up lockers and tried my best to ignore the overwhelming stench of gym socks and cologne.

When I found them, Venom had Spider-man pinned to the wall as he attempted to reach for something Spider-man was holding. What shocked me most was that Spider-man's mask was at Venom's feet and I had a clear view at the undeniable face of Peter Parker. Acting quickly, I shot claws at Venom's back, causing him to cry out in pain and give Spider-man time to act. Taking whatever was in his hands, he shoved it down Venom's throat. In a swift movement, Venom had flung Spider-man into the wall behind him and screamed out in pure frustration.

I dove in and threw the mask at Spider-man while Venom flailed wildly, looking for something, anything, to throw at Spider-man. And suddenly, the black suit was peeling itself off of his right arm. Venom stared at it in pure horror and cried out a wild "NO!" before tumbling into the shower section of the locker room.

I went to follow, but Spider-man, with his mask on once more, held his hand out in front of me; clearly telling me not to follow as he went after Venom. I stayed behind, but my advanced hearing picked up the conversation that followed. Venom cried for the suit, whatever it really was, not to reject and leave him. Spider-man confronted him, telling him to let go of his hatred, but he responded by telling him that the suit only loved him for his hatred.

As police began to enter the building, I figured that now was as good as any time to leave.

* * *

It was the following night that I ran into Spider-man again. I happened to be perched on the rooftop of some building, looking out into the city streets.

"Thanks for your help the other day," Spider-man said as he approached from behind.

"I don't know if I helped too much, you had to save my ass quite a few times back there. I'm sorry if I ended up being more of a hindrance than anything else." I replied.

"Yeah well, you had my back there a few times as well so don't worry too much about it. I also noticed that you've been taking out the smaller gang members, which is a real help since I've had my hands so full lately."

"It's about all I can do at the moment." I replied. I let a short moment of quite settle before deciding to bring up a conflicted point. "Anyways, I saw today's front page. Congrats on keeping your identity a secret."

"Yeah, I'm just glad that nobody in that Parker kid's family was hurt because of it." He replied.

"Look, to be completely honest with you, I saw your face when you were struggling against Venom in the locker room." I replied.

A long silence was held between us, broken only by the sounds of the city.

"What do you want then?" He replied then, his tone a whole lot darker.

"What?" I asked, suddenly confused.

"You heard me. What do you want? You're going to blackmail me now, right?"

"Not at all. I'm not interested in that kind of thing. I just figured that I'd let you know the truth, that's all." I replied sincerely.

"Really?" he asked sounding quite doubtful.

"Really," I insisted. "I know why you wear your mask. It's not for the reasons the members of the Seven did; to get away with all the evil they were doing. No, you wear yours to protect everyone else around you in your daily life. I might not have that life anymore, but I can understand why you would work so hard to protect it."

"Thanks. I'm sorry if I came off a little -, look there are a lot of people who would do anything for that kind of info. I just –"

"You don't have to explain it to me. I've been to Rykers and you don't want to know what half of the people in there would love to do to you, trust me on that one. I understand how you feel about it." I replied. "Anyways, to change the topic, what is this?" I asked as I took the the small glass bottle that Venom had dropped in the beginning of the fight the other day out of my jean pocket. I had hung onto it, wondering what the yellow-green liquid in it was and what Venom had been planning to do with it.

"That's Gene Cleanser. It reverts you back to a human state. I used it on Venom to purge the Venom symbiote from him, how did you get it?" He replied.

"He dropped it during the beginning of the fight. I guess he had two bottles of the stuff on him if you used one on him." I replied, looking into the yellow-green liquid with deeper curiosity. Could this stuff really make me human once more? "So… you just drink it?" I asked, not taking my eyes off the container in my hands.

"Yes, but that is a final decision. There's no going back if you do decide drink it." He replied, no persuasive tone noticeable in his voice. He was leaving this decision up to me and me alone.

Finally, the answer to all my prayers was in my hands in the form of a simple drinkable liquid. But why wasn't I so eager to suck it down and race back to my old life at the sound of this news? I thought about everything that had happened since the experimentation, I wasn't meant to be a villain, but maybe I wasn't destined for heroism either. Let's face it, there are only so many times that you can get your ass handed to you in a fight before you begin to wonder if this is what's really right for you. Maybe I wasn't cut out for this kind of work like Spider-man was. But being Dragon Girl was a part of my identity now. I could never just completly go back to the life of Bridget just like I can't exactly leave the life of Dragon Girl completly behind either. They are both a part of who I really am today. Either way, this transformation has changed me and I needed to think something like this through before making such a decision. So I pocketed the bottle.

"I guess I'll see ya around then." Spider-man said before webbing himself over to a nearby building.

With that said and done, I got myself ready for my own patrol. With a small running head start, I dived off the roof, did a flip in midair, caught myself off the wall and jumped on to the other building's wall.

* * *

**Arthur's Note:**

**I'm so sorry for not updating in almost three months! Finals were coming up and a whole lot of stuff just kind of happened all at once. I also apologize that this chapter was so rushed and choppy, but I only had this weekend to write it and post it. **

**I'd like to take a moment to thank my loyal readers and also inform you all that I'm going to be busy this summer, but I'll try to update as much as I possibly can. **

**I hope to see you all when chapter 17 comes out! **

**(Extra Note: This chapter was based off the season 2 episode 7: "Identity Crisis") **


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